“Where will Obadiah sleep?”
Mom smiled. “I’m sure you and Hamilton can work it out.”
“But Mom—”
“No buts, Noah,” Dad said. “This isn’t a negotiation.” He looked at Adina. “Now that leaves us with what to do about you.” He pointed his thumb at me. “Your champion here gave an impassioned plea on your behalf, saying your very life was in danger.”
I opened my mouth, but Dad raised his hand.
“I think I can guess your arguments. Adina will be one less mouth to feed for her people. You believe she won’t live long in that cold, hard world, but don’t you think she’s awfully good at fending for herself whatever the circumstances?”
I just sat there, miserable. Here it comes.
Dad looked at Adina and stroked his beard.
“Hannah and I have agreed. You can stay.”
Adina jumped from her seat and ran over to Dad.
“Oh, thank you sir, you won’t regret it.” She gave him a big hug, then gave Mom one too. “I don’t know what I can do on board this ship, but I’m a hard worker. And I won’t ever let Noah do something so stupid again.” She glanced at me and winked.
“Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mrs. Zarc.”
“The first thing you can do is stop calling me sir.” He smiled. “None of that Mr. Zarc stuff either. You can call me Dad.”
Adina positively glowed.
“It wasn’t a hard decision. Hannah told me how you’ve adjusted already—and how helpful you were tracking Haon. I think you’ll be a great part of the team.”
I laughed. “Team Zarc.”
“And besides,” Dad said. “Now that Noah is moving in with his brother, we have an extra room.”
Adina’s smile grew even broader. “My own room?” She looked at me. “Can we go see it?”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s still my room until I get my stuff moved out. Besides, you’ve already seen it.”
“Yes, but that was before it was mine.”
Minutes later we were in my room. She nearly danced as she moved about.
“I’ve never had anything to call my own before—I’m sorry Noah. I know this is your bedroom.”
I laughed. The idea that she didn’t have to go home rushed through me. I suddenly realized I didn’t want to live in a world without her in it, with or without my own bedroom. I felt my cheeks warming and looked at my hands.
“Hey, if this is what I have to put up with to keep you here, it’s worth it.”
Adina studied me for a minute, then came over and kissed me on the cheek.
“Thank you, Noah. You really are my champion.” Then she stepped back. “How… how long do you think your father will live, now that—”
“Now that he’s so old?” I said. I was glad we’d changed the subject, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to think about the new one. “I’m not sure,” I said at last. “He’s nearly a hundred and forty. I think the oldest person alive right now is close to a hundred and eighty. But who knows. Scientists are making breakthroughs every day.”
“Do those things he wears on his arms and legs help him?”
“I’m sure they help him walk and lift things, just like the thermsuit allows me to walk. Doctors are at the point now where they can replace nearly every part of the body with artificial components, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him live a long, long time.”
“I hope so. Sometimes I feel like it’s all my fault.”
“What?” I said. “How could it possibly be your fault?”
“If I hadn’t allowed you to take me to Mars. If your dad were the one to rescue your mom instead—he would have been on the DUV III chasing Haon.”
“But then he wouldn’t have been there to help us stop Haon. Dr. Fletcher wouldn’t have developed the anti-virus.”
“I know, but it still makes me think there might have been another way.”
“Well, I can tell you this. You’ll go crazy if you try to think through all the possibilities. Time travel will do that to you.” I looked around the room. “Now what do you think, can we make this room look like it belongs to you?”
“The first thing we can do is throw all this garbage away.”
I socked her in the arm. “It’s not garbage, it’s valuable treasure.”
“Garbage, treasure, it makes no difference, we just need to get it out of my room.”
Dad stood on a wooden platform constructed in front of the DUV VI. Several hundred people, all high-ranking officials in the Poligarchy or supporters of the Earth 3000 Foundation, stood in front of the stage.
“Today is the culmination of all our efforts,” he said. “Today marks a new beginning in the history of humankind—a history that sadly seems filled more with violence and destruction than kindness and benevolence.”
I looked over at Prime Senator Sarx. Even in the bright sunlight, his skin seemed waxy and artificial. He caught me watching him and gave me an oily smile. I shuddered and turned back toward my dad.
“When I was a little boy,” Dad continued, “my parents told me the story of Noah and the Ark. I was fascinated by the stories of animals of every kind and imagined that one day those animals would be more than just pictures on a holopad. That somehow we could rescue those animals from destruction, just as Noah did from the flood. That one day little boys and girls would walk in a land like this and see living, breathing animals and enjoy creation as it once was.”
Dad turned toward us. My whole family, including Adina, sat on the stage to his right. I breathed the rich air of the African Savannah—the real Savannah.
“And so, for my children and all the children of the Solar System, I dedicate Earth to a new generation of those who believe that all life is worth protecting.”
I glanced at Prime Senator Sarx again. He just nodded, holding a handkerchief to his mouth.
Dad beckoned to me. “Noah, if you would be so kind.”
I maneuvered my chair off the platform to the bay doors on the DUV VI. I waved my palm in front of the scanner, and the doors opened.
The crowd stood on tiptoes to see as first one, then another, and another of the descendants of Elimu and Fathiya emerged from the ship. The elephants’ long trunks tasted fresh air. The crowd gasped when the great gray beasts walked once more on land that had not seen them for nearly a thousand years. For a moment, the elephants seemed unsure, then they turned and trotted toward a thicket of jackalberry trees.
If you enjoyed Noah Zarc: Mammoth Trouble, please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, iTunes and/or Goodreads. Or recommend it to a friend! Every bit of word of mouth helps!
There are so many people without whom this book wouldn’t exist. First I want to thank Greg Scheetz, whose boundless creativity and vision was the original inspiration for Noah Zarc.
I’d also like to thank all my beta readers who gave invaluable feedback: Dallas Johnson, Abigail Pease, Samuel Pease, Misti Pyles, and Susan Quinn.
Also, I’d thank my wife, Beth, who puts up with me hiding away in my office, or at the coffee shop, while I’m working on the stuff of writing. Especially in the crazy month of November, during NaNoWriMo.
Finally, to the folks at the Editorial Department, Renni Brown and Shannon Roberts, this book is light-years ahead of where it was before I started working with you. I give you my utmost thanks.
Text copyright © 2011 by D. Robert Pease
All rights reserved. Published by Walking Stick Books, an Imprint of Walking Stick Communications, Inc.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
For information visit www.walkingstickbooks.com
Summary: In a future, where Earth has been wiped clean of all life, and humanity has moved on to other worlds, twelve-year-old Noah Zarc and his family have embarked on a quest, in a time-traveling spaceship called th
e ARC, to retrieve two of every animal and repopulate a dead world.
October, 2011 Edition
Cover Design & Book Design by D. Robert Pease
Cataclysm
Coming 2012!
Noah Zarc, now thirteen, heads to Venus in an attempt to learn more about his own past. Once there, he becomes embroiled in a mission that could end up causing the greatest cataclysm in the history of the solar system. Could Noah go down as the worst villain in humanity’s existence, all because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Find out in Noah Zarc: Cataclysm, coming in 2012!
Register on the blog at www.drobertpease.com to be notified when Noah Zarc: Cataclysm is released.
Table of Contents
chapter ONE
chapter TWO
chapter THREE
chapter FOUR
chapter FIVE
chapter SIX
chapter SEVEN
chapter EIGHT
chapter NINE
chapter TEN
chapter ELEVEN
chapter TWELVE
chapter THIRTEEN
chapter FOURTEEN
chapter FIFTEEN
chapter SIXTEEN
chapter SEVENTEEN
chapter EIGHTEEN
chapter NINETEEN
chapter TWENTY
chapter TWENTY-ONE
chapter TWENTY-TWO
Acknowledgements
Copyright
Coming Soon
Noah Zarc: Mammoth Trouble (Noah Zarc, #1) Page 19