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

by Pease, D. Robert

  I lowered my chair, picked up a bundle, and placed it on my lap.

  “Can I help?”

  “Sure,” she said. “Our cave isn’t far.” She smiled. Dark eyes smiled too, under a mop of ratty brown hair. I watched her turn and walk down a trail through the woods and found myself wondering what she’d look like without all that hair all over her face.

  I shook my head. What difference does it make what she looks like? I was thankful she couldn’t see my face. My cheeks felt so warm I knew I was blushing.

  Looking anywhere but at the girl, I pushed my chair down the trail.

  Not far turned out to be three kilometers. By the time the trail ended at the edge of a canyon, my arms burned from steadying meat that wanted to slip off my lap at every turn. The girl, on the other hand, didn’t look like she’d broken a sweat.

  “Just down here.” She giggled when she saw me struggling.

  I followed her when she climbed down a narrow trail in the canyon’s side that switched back and forth until eventually it dropped about forty meters. Smoke drifted toward the sky. She smiled at me again.

  “We’re almost there.”

  I caught an aroma that made my mouth water, then we rounded an outcropping of stone and saw the cave.

  Set back into the rock and rising nearly fifty meters, the cave looked like a big amphitheater. Dozens of people were moving back and forth, preparing the meal. A massive fire burned in a pit toward the front of the cave, and women tended slabs of meat suspended over the flames on long, blackened poles.

  I followed the girl to a bank of snow just off the near side of the cave. She dug a hole and laid her meat inside. I groaned in relief when I slid the meat off my lap into another hole she’d dug.

  “Nice refrigerator,” I said.

  She looked at me and frowned. I realized the Triple-B didn’t know how to translate the word, so it just gave it to her in English.

  “Sorry,” I said. “That’s the name we give a place to keep stuff cold.”

  She laughed. “We don’t have any trouble keeping things cold.”

  I really liked her laugh. I didn’t have any real friends my age, only my brother and sister, Obadiah, and lots and lots of robots.

  “My name’s Noah. What’s yours?”

  “Adina, daughter of none.”

  “Adina’s a nice name. Is None your father’s name?”

  She laughed again. “No, I’m the daughter of no one. My mother died while giving me life, and my father died on a hunt shortly after. So I am a daughter of none.”

  “I’m sorry. That sounds awful!”

  “I was so young, I don’t remember them at all.” She grabbed my hand. “Come on, I’ll show you our cave.”

  I followed her through the crowd. They all stared at me when we passed. Even though my chair must have mystified them, no one said anything. I wasn’t sure I’d be so understanding of something so alien.

  “This is where I sleep.” She showed me a pile of furs, neatly folded next to a worn stone shelf. A few possessions lay on the rock.

  “Here’s a doll my mother made for me before I was born.”

  She held up a small object, vaguely person-shaped, carved from bone and strapped together with strips of leather.

  “And here’s my father’s favorite skinning knife.” She handed me a piece of flint chipped and shaped like a crude knife. “Careful, it’s sharp.”

  I took off my gloves, tucked them in my coat pocket, and touched my finger to the edge.

  “Wow, it really is.” I set the knife down before I cut myself.

  “And here’s where we get water.” She skipped over to a depression at the back of the cave, where a long thin band of gray clay separated the stone of the cave’s roof from the floor. All along it, water seeped and filled up a small pool.

  “Taste it.”

  I dipped my hands into the water. It was cool but not as cold as I’d expected. I drank. It was really good—full of minerals, crisp and refreshing.

  “That’s amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted water that, well… had a taste.”

  She shook her head. “Water without taste? How boring!”

  I looked around the cave. The walls toward the back were covered with crude paintings: men fighting mastodons with spears, people dancing around fires, scores of handprints of every size.

  I turned toward the crowd of people swarming the cave—all working on some project or another. Some sat on the ground, grinding grain in worn depressions in the stone floor with smooth round stones in their hands. Others were mending fur garments with bone needles and some kind of thick, twine-like thread. Kids carried wood for the fire.

  At first glance, I thought the shaggy-haired people didn’t have much of a life. They probably struggled every day just to survive, yet they seemed happy. I watched them for a few minutes, laughing and talking with one another.

  “Look, your father’s coming.” Adina looked back toward the trail. Dad walked with a group of men, helping them carry the mastodon’s great tusks.

  “They honor your father by allowing him to carry the creature’s pride.”

  “Its pride?”

  “They say the longer a mastodon’s tusks, the greater its pride. The king of the mastodons was said to have tusks that curled around twice. It was his pride that brought him down when they grew too heavy for him to lift. The beast you killed today was a mighty creature with immense pride. And now your father brings the proof of his son’s deeds.”

  She beamed as she watched the men struggle with the long, heavy, curved tusks.

  “There will be a great celebration tonight—in your honor, Noah.”

  “I didn’t do anything special.” My cheeks were burning. “I was just trying to keep him from hurting our ship.”

  “Not just the ship. Don’t think I missed what you did for me today.” She looked down, then up at me through long lashes. “You saved my life. I’ll find a way to repay you one day.”

  I turned away, not really wanting her to see the expression on my face.

  “Let’s go welcome your father.” Adina ran off toward the far end of the cave. I followed, as did nearly everyone else.

  Dad entered amid a sea of voices. He and the other men lifted the tusks into the air. Many were shouting, “To the hunter! To the hunter!”

  Dad shook his head and pointed at me when they set the tusks on the cave floor.

  “Remember, it was my son who felled the beast, all on his own.”

  The people around me turned.

  “He is a child,” a nearly toothless old man said.

  “A child with a great heart,” Dad said. “He has provided your people with life.”

  The crowd erupted in a cheer. Those nearest me lifted me out of my chair and onto their shoulders. They paraded around the cave, which made me feel weird. And then, for just a moment, I felt like everything was going to be all right.

  At last they sat me down in my chair and urged me to move toward the fire. The tusks of the mastodon were brought over and placed on the ground around me. Adina ran up.

  “You have the seat of honor. Whatever you need, I’ll serve you.”

  I grinned. “I wish Sam and Hamilton were here to see this.”

  “Do you want me to go get them?”

  “No, Dad says they need to stay and fix our ship, but maybe you can tell them the story. They’ll never believe me.”

  She smiled. “That I will do. The story of Noah the mighty hunter, hero to our people.”

  As the sun set, the valley darkened. People pulled bits of burning wood from the main fire and used them to light other small fires around the cave, and the whole place brightened. It was actually getting hot now, so I took off my coat. Adina ran it to the back of the cave and laid it alongside her things.

  She returned when the women tending the roasting mammoth announced it was ready. Adina carved the first piece and brought it to me on a flat stone.

  “The first meat!” she said.
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br />   Everyone in the cave shouted, “The first meat!”

  I looked at the red steak on my lap. And looked—I’d never eaten real meat before. Adina smiled and nodded. I cut a small bite, lifted it into my mouth and chewed, felt the juice flow down my throat.

  And groaned in delight.

  “This is amazing!”

  Adina grinned. “I think I prefer deer, but mastodon is a close second.”

  After I began eating, Dad was given the second choice cut. Then the rest of the people lined up to receive generous portions of the mammoth.

  Adina sat next to me. “You’ve never tasted mastodon before?”

  “I’ve never tasted real meat before.” I finished another sumptuous bite. She looked puzzled.

  “How have you lived?”

  “I have plenty of different foods to choose from, but all our meat’s artificial.” The look on her face told me the word didn’t translate.

  “Artificial means man-made—um, pretend food. Like your doll—it’s not a real person, it just looks like one. Your mother made it.”

  “So you make your meat out of bones?”

  “No—well, I don’t think so. Actually I don’t know what it’s made of. That’s why I eat PB&J sandwiches mostly.”

  “Peebee anjay?”

  “Peanut butter and jelly.” I wiped my hand on my sleeve. “Up until now I’d have told you it was the greatest food in the solar system. You have to try one someday.”

  She smiled. “I’d like that.”

  We sat for a while enjoying our meal. For the most part, the cave was quiet except for the occasional belch, or other unexpected noises.

  “Where is your home?” Adina asked when we’d eaten our fill.

  “That’s not an easy thing to answer.” I looked up toward the stars beginning to twinkle in the night sky. “I was born on a planet a long way from here.”

  “Planet?”

  “Um... A great big land in the sky.” I gestured around us. “This land, this planet, we call Earth. I was born on another planet, called Mars.”

  “So, Mars is your home?” She looked up at the sky as if she might suddenly see another world.

  “Well, not really. I’ve lived most of my life on a great ship in the sky.”

  “A ship? Like the silver thing you killed the mastodon with?”

  The firelight danced on her face. I’d never seen eyes that big.

  I glanced back at the sky. “Yes, but much, much bigger.” How to describe something so alien to her? “It’s like a giant cave, with a whole lot of rooms. But it’s not a part of the land, it moves.”

  Adina looked at me like I was a little off my rocker. Then someone shouted from across the fire.

  “A tale!”

  Several people took up the chant. “A tale! A tale!”

  Adina nudged me in the arm.

  “It’s tradition for the hunter who brought down the beast to tell a tale—you know, his adventures and daring.”

  I panicked. “My daring?”

  She giggled. “The story doesn’t have to be true.”

  I looked at Dad, who nodded. My stomach twisted in knots. Then I saw the expectant smile on Adina’s face and the faces of dozens of people sitting around me, and raised my chair higher. I was the hero of the day, after all.

  “I’ll tell you the story of Elimu and Fathiya.”

  Dad smiled big. I could do this.

  “The elephant is a mighty creature, as you all know.”

  But they all looked puzzled.

  “Sorry, elephants are just like mastodons without the fur—tough gray skin, huge ears and tusks. They’re not easy for a man to catch, and it’s especially hard for a boy on his first hunt.” So many nodded that my confidence grew.

  “About two years ago, I was helping my dad track two of these elephants in the African…in a land far from here, where the sun always shines and you don’t need to wear furs to keep warm.” Some of the women looked at each other, then back at me.

  “Dad and I were watching a herd of elephants grazing near a watering hole. I spotted a pair off by themselves, a male and a female, perfect for us. We had one of our ships ready with fences on each side of an entrance so we could herd the elephants in.”

  An old man to my right laughed. “Wouldn’t it be easier to spear these elephants and take their meat into your ship?”

  “Yeah, I guess it would be, but we didn’t want their meat. We wanted them alive.”

  A kind of collective gasp rose from the crowd.

  “Dad put me in charge of closing the doors to the ship once the elephants were inside. He went off to circle around the far side to scare them in my direction. I sat for what seemed like a long time until suddenly the elephants spooked and started moving towards me. I saw my father walking behind them, herding them toward the ship.”

  I looked at all the faces, shining in the firelight. I wasn’t sure they understood the story completely, but they hung on every word.

  “The two elephants were within three meters when I heard a loud popping sound!” I clapped my hands, and a few of the younger kids gasped. “The animals turned and started running off to the side, away from me. Dad yelled, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. A loud noise came from the far side of the watering hole, and I looked up to see a Range Rover barreling towards us.” More puzzled faces.

  “A Range Rover is kind of like our ship, but it moves along on the ground instead of in the sky.”

  “Another tribe had come to steal your elephants?” the same old man said.

  “Poachers,” I said. “Men who kill animals and take their pride, leaving the meat to rot in the sun.” Many heads were shaking—with outrage or disbelief.

  “Finally I could hear my dad telling me to get in the ship and prepare for takeoff. We had the refractor cloak—um, we had the ship well hidden, so the poachers didn’t know it was there. I dashed in and fired up the engines. As soon as Dad made it to the ship, we took off and climbed about fifteen meters into the air. From above, I saw the poachers chasing the elephants. They were shooting at them, with their… fire spears.

  “I told Dad to stay in the hold and leave the doors to the ship open. We raced ahead of the elephants. They were running through the brush, knocking over everything in their path. I had to time it just right. I remember Dad yelling he wasn’t sure this was such a good idea.”

  Some of the men in the crowd smiled or chuckled. Parents, no doubt.

  “I told him to trust me. The male elephant was running down a beaten trail, the female following. He was the one the poachers wanted most—he had enormous pride.” Adina grinned at me.

  “I saw an area not too far ahead of him that should do the trick. I knew I’d only have one chance. Just before the elephants reached a clearing, I dropped the ship to the ground in front of them, the door of the hold open. I heard a loud crash and the ship shook something fierce, but then Dad said, ‘We got them! Get us out of here.’ I hit the thrusters and lifted the ship into the air. The poachers screeched to a halt in the cloud of dust.” I laughed. “One minute they were chasing elephants and the next both of them were gone.

  “So that’s how we got our two elephants. Sam, my sister, named them Elimu and Fathiya. They haven’t had any babies yet, but we think it’s just a matter of time.”

  The people clapped and cheered when I lowered my chair to the cave floor. Even better was Adina’s smile and the look on her face.

  “That was a good tale,” Adina said. “I’m not sure how much of it I believe—”

  “It’s true, every word of it.” Then I laughed. “Well, almost every word.”

  Sam’s voice sounded over the comm-link.

  “We’re finished with the Morning Star repairs. We can go after Mom as soon as the gel foam is hardened.”

  “Good,” Dad said. “Get inside and lock up for the night. I don’t think it’ll be safe for Noah and me to come home tonight, so we’ll stay here. Tomorrow morning we’ll come get you.”

>   “Sounds good,” Sam said. “Save some mammoth-burgers for us.”

  Dad had a dry spot near the back of the cave where he’d been sleeping the past week or so. Adina brought us another pile of warm furs and showed me where a stack of wood was stored to keep the nearest fire stoked.

  “She’s a sweet girl,” Dad said once she’d gone to bed.

  I felt my cheeks burning. I was probably too close to the fire.

  Dad laid out the furs for me. I pulled myself from my chair, snuggled into them, and lay there for a while staring into the fire. The cave quieted down as everyone settled in for the night. Off in the distance a wolf howled, but I felt safe in the back of the cave.

  Was Mom safe? I’d been enjoying myself tonight—telling silly stories while she was being held captive by that…what did Sam call him? That madman.

  “Do you think Mom will be okay?”

  “She’s much better at taking care of herself than I am,” Dad said. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

  “Do you really think the repairs on the Morning Star will hold up?”

  Dad turned onto his elbow and looked at me. “Of course. Why?”

  For a while, I was silent.

  “I just always seem to mess everything up. If I hadn’t crashed the Morning Star, we probably would have rescued her already.”

  “And all these people would be sleeping on empty stomachs,” he said. “I don’t think you realize what a gift you’ve given them. When you’re hungry you can just go down and have Le Chef fix you anything you want, but these people struggle to survive. Look around—there are only a handful of people here older than me. It’s a very hard life you made a little easier. And we’re still going to get your mom.”

  I watched as the fire flickered across his face. Although I teased him about being ancient, I knew forty wasn’t really that old. There were people on Mars who lived far, far longer than that. But he was right. At first glance the people in the cave all looked old—weathered and beaten—but up close I could see they were almost all younger than Mom and Dad.

  I suddenly felt lucky. I had two parents who cared for me—Adina didn’t have anyone. Maybe I could do a little more to help her have a better life.