Noah Zarc: Mammoth Trouble (Noah Zarc, #1) (13 page)

We ate in silence for a few minutes. I tried to finish my burger but finally pushed the plate away with nearly half left. I looked at Obadiah. Maybe the dog would find it more appetizing? The water was tepid and oily and did nothing to wash away the taste of the snythburger.

Mo came over to the table.

“Burger okay?”

“It’s great, but my stomach’s a bit upset.” I patted my belly. “Otherwise, how could I not finish off the best synthburger on Mars?”

“In the whole
solar system
,” Adina said with a big smile.

Mo looked at her and flashed his yellow teeth.

“Can I get youse anything else?”

“No thanks,” I said. “You might be able to help us, though. We’re looking for a man named Haon. Any idea where he might be?”

Mo scratched his day-old beard.

“Haon, huh? Yeah, I think I heard that name before. Kind of a nutcase.” He twirled his finger around his ear. “Lives out in the Gecko by hisself. Him and his robots, anyhow.”

“Yeah, that sounds like him.” I tried to keep the eagerness out of my voice. “You happen to know where exactly he lives?”

“What do a couple kids want with that character?”

“My mom’s sick,” Adina said.

“We heard Haon did a lot of traveling in deep space. We’re hoping maybe he can help.” I reached in my pack and pulled out a map generator. “Can you show me where he lives?”

“What’s traveling in deep space got to do with your sick mum?”

“Well, we just came in from deep space ourselves, and she caught something while we were out there,” Adina said.

Mo stepped back. “Not catchin’ is it?”

“No,” I said. “We’re fine. But we’d really like to see if Haon can help us.”

Mo didn’t seem 100% convinced, but he looked at my map.

“Last time Haon was here he yakked about all the usual stuff people yak about. Price of rocket fuel. Weather. Then he says somethin’ kinda weird. Said his air scrubbers were broke by rampaging buffalo.”

I lifted my eyebrows. “Buffalo?”

“That’s what I said. I wasn’t even sure what buffalos was, but I’m pretty sure there ain’t any on Mars. Anyway, he asked me if I knowed anybody who’d fix ‘em on short notice. I told him there’s this guy named Kenny who’ll fix anything. He was pretty pleased and asked if I thought my guy could make it out to the Jervis craters that day. I said he’d have to ask Kenny. After that he left in a hurry.”

“So the Jervis craters?” I said. “Where are they?”

Mo traced his finger along the map until he found New Cairo, then worked his way down along a range of mountains and tapped his finger.

“Right here. Just north of the Red Alps.”

I stood while I slid the map back in my pack.

“Thanks, Mo.” I turned toward the door. “Come on, Adina.”

“Not so fast, what about your food? You owes me two hundred fifty chips.”

I reached into my pack and pulled out a wad of old bills I’d taken from the ship.

“Is this enough?”

Mo looked at the colored paper in my hand. “What the heck’s that?”

“My dad said it was money. I thought you bought stuff with it.”

“I don’t know what planet it’s good for, but not this one.”

“I’m sorry sir,” I said. “I don’t have any Martian chips.”

Mo frowned at the two of us, then shook his head.

“I’ll put it on your tab, then. Pay me next time you’re in town.”

“Thank you, sir.” I smiled. “I’ll pay you back, I promise.” I turned toward the door, and my heart lurched.

Where Obadiah had been there was nothing but a bit of cord.

“Draben! He took my dog.”

Adina looked around at the crowds of people, then back at me.

“Come on, he can’t have gotten far.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me in the direction of the
DUV III
. “Has anyone seen a dog?”

The crowds parted as we ran down the line of ships.

“Obadiah!” I yelled.

A woman with a child in her arms pointed in the direction we were headed.

“I saw a boy and an animal running that way.”

I raised my chair and tried to look over the crowds.

“Obadiah!”

We hurried on, calling his name. Just ahead, the crowds thinned and I saw a glimpse of something small and brown dashing between people’s legs. A sandy-haired boy chased after it.

“There he is!” We dashed to the spot.

“There.” Adina pointed between two ships. A boy was crouched down, holding Obadiah by the collar. I rushed over.

“Let go of him.” It was Draben.

“Thank goodness,” Draben said. He still held onto the collar. The hair on the back of Obadiah’s neck stood on end while he strained to break free of Draben’s grasp.

“I said let go of my dog.”

Adina came up beside me and put her hand on my arm.

“Noah, look.” She pointed under the ship to our right. Two tiny eyes peered out at us.

“It’s a rat,” Draben said, breathing heavily. “All that talk of Mo’s famous synthburgers got me hungry, so I came down to get one. Just as I got there, I saw the rat scurry out from under a bench. Your dog saw it too—he lunged and broke his cord. So I chased him.”

I bent down and grabbed Obadiah’s collar. Draben let go.

“Honest, I wouldn’t try to steal your dog.” He glanced at Adina. “He’s a good dog, but I heard you call him your best friend. I knew you’d be awful sad to lose him.”

Obadiah finally seemed to notice me. He wagged his tail furiously and licked my face. Dumb dog didn’t even know I was scared to death I’d lost him.

“Well…thank you. I guess I just thought—”

“It’s okay. I probably would’ve thought the same thing.”

I tied the cord to Obadiah’s collar. “I didn’t even know there were any animals on Mars.”

“Yeah, not much. Some rats, a few bugs. Just things that stowed away on the early settlers’ ships.”

“Well, thank you for catching my dog. I don’t know what we’d do if he got lost here.”

“Hey, it was nothing.” Draben looked the
DUV III
over. “You headed back? I’d sure love to see inside your ship. She’s a TW class, isn’t she?”

We started walking toward the
DUV III
, parked just a few spots down.

“Yeah, she’s a great ship.”

“And she can jump?”

“Yup,” I said, feeling uneasy again. Of course lots of people on Mars knew about the
ARC
project, but time-travel is highly restricted and dad said I’m not supposed to talk about it with strangers.

“I’ve never seen one before.” Draben looked wistful. “Have you ever jumped?”

I glanced at Adina. “A couple of times. It’s not that big a deal.”

“Not that big a deal! Are you crazy? There’s nothing that’s a bigger deal than that! You can travel through time. You can see Mars before people lived here. You can go to Earth before it died.” He shook his head. “Not that big a deal.”

We reached the
DUV III
. I turned to look at Draben.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t take you on board. We’re on a mission and we don’t have much time.”

His face fell. “Yeah, I understand.”

“But if we ever come back here, I’ll give you a ride. Maybe even do a short jump.”

He grinned. “Oh man, I’d love to see my dad when he was my age, that’d be a trip.”

I smiled and stuck out my hand. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea, but we’ll see. Thanks for catching Obadiah.”

Draben shook my hand. “You’re welcome.” He looked at Adina. “Come back when you have more time. I’ll show you all around New Cairo.”

“I will,” Adina said. “Thank you.”

He looked at me. “You too, Noah
Zarc.
”

Of course. Everybody knew the Zarcs were the only family allowed to time travel.

We stepped into the
DUV III
. I closed the airlock and looked down at Obadiah.

“What were you thinking?” He just wagged his tail. “That’s what I thought. You weren’t.”

I cleared the port’s shields and headed south. The sun was nearing the horizon, but I hoped we’d be able to see Haon’s compound before it got completely dark.

“I guess it just goes to show you can’t judge an aurochs by its horns,” Adina said.

I looked at her, my mouth open.

“You can’t judge a what by its whats?”

She laughed. “An aurochs is another animal we liked to hunt that has long horns.” She held her fingers up so they stuck out from her head. “The longer the horns, the older the auroch. The older the auroch, the tougher the meat. So even though he looks like a good kill, it’s better to let him alone.”

“And what does this have to do with anything?”

“Draben,” she said. “When we first met him, we both didn’t trust him. Then he ends up helping us.”

“I guess you can’t judge an aurochs by its horns.”

We skimmed over sand dunes taller than some mountains back on Earth.

“It’s the same as when I first met you,” I said.

“Oh?” Adina raised her eyebrows.

“When I first saw you hanging on for dear life on the wing of the
Morning Star
, I figured, ‘There’s a boy who needs to watch where he’s going.’” I grinned.

She socked me in the arm.

“Ouch. You hit like a boy too.”

“Hey, watch where you’re going.”

Adina pointed to the screen. The
DUV III
hurtled toward an orange outcropping of rock. I yanked the yoke left and banked hard.

“The ship wouldn’t have let us crash, you know.”

“Just the same, I’d like it if you kept your eyes on where we’re going.”

I skirted the mountain range to our right. A flashing light on the holoscreen indicated the coordinates Mo had given us.

“What did Draben mean when he said you could visit Earth before it died?” Adina said.

Uh-oh. I hadn’t really explained about the Cataclysm.

“There are things mankind has done that...well, they’re pretty awful.”

“But how does a
planet
die?” Her brows furrowed. “Are you saying men killed it?”

“I honestly don’t know the whole story. Even my mom and dad have a different opinion about what happened. My mom seems more convinced that humans did it. Over the years we used up all the resources of the planet: wood for fires, animals for food, pumping chemicals into the air until it wasn’t breathable anymore. Men made it so the planet wasn’t livable. Everything died—all the plants, all the animals—everything.”

Adina stared at me in horror.

“My dad thinks it was a combination of what man did and natural causes. There was a huge volcanic explosion that filled the Earth with dust. It blocked the sun and caused another ice age.”

“
Another
ice age?”

“Yeah, the time you lived in was the end of the last ice age. Just a few hundred years after that, the planet was warm, and most of the ice was gone. Green plants covered the earth, and animals flourished.”

“Just like I used to dream.” Adina smiled. “Where my mom and dad went.”

“Everything was fine for thousands of years,” I said. “Then it died.” I watched Adina’s smile fade again.

“It seems so sad. All those animals.”

“That’s what the
ARC
project is all about. We go back in time and find the animals before they died. Then we’re going to put them back on Earth.”

“So it isn’t
dead
anymore?”

“No. My dad says it’s ready.” For a moment the excitement of what we were about to do got my heart racing. Then I remembered why we were here, on Mars, chasing Haon—chasing my father. Maybe I wasn’t really part of the whole
ARC
project after all.

Adina was quiet for a long time.

“I want to help,” she said at last. “I can’t imagine living in a world without the wooly mammoths or aurochs or deer.”

I shook my head and worked up a smile.

“Once we rescue my mom and she says it’s okay, you’ll get your wish.”

I looked at the display. “We should be getting close. Keep an eye out for Haon’s compound.”

The sun was setting behind us. Long shadows made the sand dunes below look like giant waves on a black sea.

“I think I see something.” Adina pointed out the window.

I strained to see.

“There, Noah. A flashing light.”

Sure enough, within the shadow of what looked to be a large crater, a yellow light blinked.

“Turn off all external lights.”

The ship went dark. I brought her down as close as possible to the sand. The flashing light disappeared behind a rocky ridge ahead of us.

“I think we should land outside the crater and walk in. We’d better wear EV suits. It’s going to get cold, fast.”

By the time I landed and we got into the Extra Vehicle suits, it was pitch-black outside. I was a little embarrassed because I needed Adina’s help to get into my suit, but once we walked out into the cold desert I forgot all about it.

The EV was nowhere near as fun as a thermsuit, but I liked it. Just like the chair, it moved in response to my thoughts as if my legs were whole. One day I’d walk like this all the time.

I looked up into the night. Phobos was shining brightly in the northern sky.

“The moon is so small,” Adina said over the comm-link. “And it’s not round!”

I laughed. “Yeah, lots of moons are shaped funny. Mars has two moons—Phobos is the largest. The other one, Deimos, is a lot smaller and further away so it’s harder to see.”

We climbed to the top of a rise. I was glad for the low gravity—it made walking in the EV suit easier. I pointed to another ridge a few hundred meters in front of us.

“That should be the edge of the crater. Let’s try to be quiet—who knows what kind of sentries Haon has posted out here.”

We scrambled down one hill and climbed up the next. By the time we reached the top I was breathing hard. I sat down on the near side of the ridge, Adina next to me. Her face was lit by the green glow of her heads-up display. I’d shown her how to read some of the symbols on the display—human and robotic signatures. I looked at mine. So far, there was nothing in range. I pointed at my eyes, then at the top of the ridge. She nodded, and we both crawled up and peered over the edge.

Below, lit by the pale light of Phobos, was a small compound made up of two main domes and several smaller ones. Nothing moved. Only the flashing yellow light we’d seen earlier indicated any signs of life at all.

I motioned to Adina and crawled over the edge of the crater.

I wasn’t sure how we’d get inside. Hamilton used his knowledge of high-tech gadgetry and computer programming to override the security system. But as long as we were moving and no one had spotted us, I figured we were doing okay.

Besides, I wasn’t sure I didn’t
want
to be discovered.

Adina grabbed my arm just as I was about to head down into the crater. She pointed to one of the smaller domes. At first I couldn’t see anything—then a sliver of light widened along the top of the dome. The roof was opening.

Maybe this was our chance.

I leapt over the crater’s edge and half ran, half slid down the gravelly slope. I heard Adina clattering after me. The ground around the facility was bathed in light from the opening dome. I ran, trying to stick to the shadows along the edge of the buildings.

We reached the dome, which was now completely open. I stopped and looked for a way onto the roof. Adina grabbed me and pointed toward a ladder. She dashed over and began climbing. I followed.

We stopped when we reached a small ledge. The dome had retracted completely, leaving a circular opening about fifteen meters across. The gleaming hull of a starship pointed toward the Martian sky. Steam hissed and bellowed beneath it. The ship was being readied for launch.

If Haon was in there—or, more important, Mom—

“Come on!” I spied a ladder descending into the mist on our left. We ran.

Seconds later we were down. The ship grumbled and belched smoke. I knew it was moments from liftoff. We were just a few meters from its hatch, which was still open. Even as I watched, it started to close. I commanded the EV suit to give me as much power to the legs as possible and lunged toward the door.

Maybe I gave it too much power.

I flew four meters through the air and crashed into the door. The suit bore the brunt of the hit, but I nearly passed out as the air was knocked out of me. When my head cleared I was relieved to see the anti-jam safeguards had kept the hatch from closing on my arm. Slowly, the door opened back up.

Adina helped me to my feet, her back to the hatch. She turned as a huge shadow loomed, blocking the light from within.

Haon yelled as he jumped out. He smashed the butt of a rifle into Adina’s visor. I heard the faceplate crack, and she fell backward.

He swung the weapon toward me, ready to fire.