“This is nothing compared to the main city.” I unbuckled and worked my way into my chair. As always, I felt way too heavy after the weightlessness of space.
“Once you get used to gravity again, you’ll find that walking around on Mars is much easier than on Earth. It only has about one third the gravity.”
Obadiah ran around and whined, excited to go exploring.
Adina stood up, her legs wobbly.
“It may take me a while to just learn how to walk again. This gravity makes me feel all weighed down.”
I grabbed a small pack from one of the cupboards and filled it with things we might need.
“Let’s get going. Who knows what Haon’s doing with my mom?”
I want to get this over with and get back to the way things were. But even as I finished the thought I knew there’d be no going back. My life was changed—forever.
I moved down the circular stair, Adina and Obadiah just behind. The outer airlock opened, and air rich with the smell of rocket fuel and humanity flooded my senses.
“We need to find some kind of gathering place. Somewhere Haon might go on a regular basis. A parts depot, maybe a bar or a restaurant.”
We moved down between the ships. Obadiah padded along behind us. I tried not to draw attention, but everywhere I looked people stared at us. At first I couldn’t figure out why, then I realized they were looking at Obadiah.
“Of course,” I whispered to Adina. “Most of these people have never seen an animal, except in pictures and holoscans. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea bringing him.”
“How much for your cat?”
I turned toward a teenage boy leaning against the hull of a ship.
“He’s not for sale,” I said. “And he’s a dog.”
The boy pushed off the ship, walked toward us, and fell into step beside me.
“I thought dogs were much bigger and you could ride ‘em.”
“You’re probably thinking of horses.”
“Yeah, that’s right.” The boy looked sideways at Adina. “You don’t look like you’re from around here.”
She looked at her feet and kept walking.
“We’re not from around here,” I said. “We just came in from a trip to the Rigel Kentaurus system. She’s never been to Mars before.”
“A spacer, huh?” He nodded his head toward her. “Let me be the first to welcome you to Mars. The name’s Draben.”
She looked at him a moment and nodded. “I’m Adina.”
I stuck out my hand. “And I’m Noah.”
Draben shook my hand. “Where’d you get the dog? I’ve seen a lot of things in New Cairo before, but never anything like him.”
“My dad gave him to me when I was a kid. I honestly can’t tell you where he got him.”
“Well, you’re one lucky kid. Keep your eyes on him. There are probably a lot of people around who’d love nothing better than to take him off your hands.” He rubbed his thumb and fingers together. “He’d be worth a boatload of chips.”
I didn’t like the look Draben gave Obadiah.
“I will. Obadiah’s my best friend. Besides, if anyone tried to take him, he’d bite their hands off.” As if to prove it, Obadiah bared his teeth when Draben reached out to pet him. Better change the subject.
“Can you tell us a good place to eat—maybe somewhere we can get information?”
Draben looked up and down the row of ships.
“Down that away.” He nodded to our right. “Mo’s. He makes the best synthburgers in New Cairo, and he knows everything that goes on in the port. If it passes through here he seems to know about it.”
“Thanks. Maybe we’ll see you around.” We hurried off to the right, Obadiah close behind.
Draben called after us. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on your ship while you’re gone.”
“There’s something about that boy that makes me uneasy,” Adina said.
“You and me both.” I looked over my shoulder. Draben had disappeared in the throng of people. “The sooner we find out where Haon’s compound is, the sooner we can get out of here.”
The whole outer wall of the port was lined with shops and restaurants. We had to ask a few more people but eventually we found Mo’s. It was dark inside, and my mouth watered when I smelled the grilled burgers. We walked in and looked around for somewhere to sit.
I jumped when a man wearing a greasy apron pointed at Obadiah.
“Eh, you can’t bring that rat in ‘ere.”
“He’s not a rat, he’s a dog,” I said.
“Just the same, he can’t come in ‘ere. You’ll have to put him outside.”
I looked at Adina. “I’ll be back. See if you can find us a place to sit.”
I tugged at Obadiah. He didn’t want to leave a room that smelled of cooked meat.
“Obadiah, come.” He looked at me, then back toward the kitchen, and finally trotted out. I pulled a piece of cord from my pack, tied it to Obadiah’s collar, and found a pole to tie him to.
I looked back in the restaurant and saw Adina sit down at a table by the window.
“At least I’ll be able to see you from in there.” I patted Obadiah on the head. “Be good—and keep an eye out for that Draben kid.”
I went back in and sat across from Adina, moving my chair so I could keep an eye on Obadiah, now on the ground. He had his head on his front paws and a mournful look on his face.
A few minutes later, the man with the apron came over.
“What can I get you?”
“I heard you make the best synthburgers in New Cairo,” I said.
“On all of Mars,” the man said, grinning through yellowed teeth.
“Two, then.” I looked at Adina and smiled. “And a couple glasses of water.”
Mo nodded and moved off toward the kitchen. Adina glanced around the room.
“I’m not sure I like this place. There are way too many people, and none of them seem too friendly.”
“You’re doing better than me. I’ve spent most of my life with only my mom and dad, Sam and Hamilton, and a ship full of animals.”
“I keep forgetting this is all new to you, too.” She pushed a piece of hair out of her eyes. “How old did you say you were when you were on Mars before?”
“Five years old. So I don’t remember it at all.” I glared at a couple of people who’d stopped to look at Obadiah. “Of course I hear stories from my mom and dad all the time. And I had to study Martian history and culture.”
“Is all of Mars this crowded?”
“Actually most of it’s much more crowded than this. The only reason there aren’t more people here is because of the desert—it can be a harsh place to live. Up north, almost the entire northern hemisphere is one huge city.”
The people outside moved on when Obadiah growled at them.
“Mars is smaller than Earth,” I said. “So when people settled here there wasn’t as much room. It wasn’t until people started living on Venus that they had any room to spread out.”
“Venus?”
“It’s another planet. It looks kind of like Earth, but it’s really nothing like it. There, people have to live inside. If you go outside, you die instantly.”
“Then why live there?”
“I’m not sure. I think it goes back to a group of people who wanted to move back to Earth. A lot of other people didn’t want Earth touched, so there was a big fight. The people who’d wanted to move back to Earth figured if they couldn’t move to Earth they’d try Venus.”
Mo set the plates and glasses down in front of them.
“Here you goes, two of Mo’s special synthburgers and a couple of waters.”
“Thank you,” I said.
Mo wiped his hands on his apron.
“You two need anything else, lemme know.” He walked off and I looked down at my plate.
“Well, looks good enough.” I picked it up, took a bite, and scrunched up my nose.
“I think I’ve been ruined.”
“What! This is tasteless compared to mastodon.”
“I guess when that’s almost all you’ve ever eaten, just about anything else would taste pretty good.” She took several big bites and washed them down with water. She nearly spit it out.
“Talk about tasteless! This water is awful.”
I grinned. “At least I was right about that.”
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.”
Noah Zarc: Mammoth Trouble (Noah Zarc, #1) Page 12
