Noah Zarc: Omnibus: Noah Zarc, #4

Fire roared beneath me even as the ever-thinning air grew colder. The thrusters on my boots shuddered. The thermsuit popped and rattled as if it would disintegrate before I tore free of Earth’s gravity.

And if that didn’t kill me, my sister probably would.

The blue sky darkened. I didn’t dare look down, as turning my head could send me careening off course, plummeting toward the surface fifty kilometers below. A blip on my heads-up display beeped. I’d pulled away from the assassin-bots, but they were still there, watching me rocket toward the cold depths of space.

Hamilton had said the suit would never hold up if I left Earth in it, but my big brother just wanted to keep me from trying.

You’d most likely lose control and burn up on reentry, he said. Then we’d have to tell Mom and Dad why their youngest son is nothing but an ash cloud drifting over the Atlantic.

Then why’s the suit retrofitted with a second-stage booster? I asked.

Because, my sister Sam said, "someday we might need it in an emergency."

Well, if outrunning a half-dozen killer robots wasn’t an emergency, nothing was.

An alarm sounded in my ear, and initiate second stage scrolled across the visor.

Let’s just hope this thing works. Fire second-stage boosters. For a second nothing happened, then just before panic set in, the rockets ignited.

My head snapped forward when fire roared behind me. For a heartbeat, I wobbled. Then I straightened my head, thrust my open hands downward, and stabilized myself. Once more, I shot heavenward. Ice that had formed on my suit in the lower atmosphere shattered and fell toward Earth. Within moments the sky above had lost nearly all its blue.

Thirty seconds to engine shutdown.

I strained against the forces buffeting me. Just a few more seconds.

The beeping stopped. I was home free.

Ten seconds to engine shutdown.

Billions of stars sparkled against the darkness of space.

Main booster shutdown.

Silence.

Switching to navigation thrusters only.

For a moment I coasted in space, enjoying the view as the Milky Way, with its wide bands of blue, red, yellow, and white stars, cut across my vision. I looked toward Earth, the shimmering blue horizon receding below me. Green and brown patches, crisscrossed with roads, small towns, and cities, covered the southeastern United States. A swirl of clouds churned over the Atlantic. The earth was so alive during the twenty-first century—unlike my own time, nearly a thousand years in the future.

Someday it’ll look like this again.

I winced when a sharp pain tore at my abdomen. The two little black-tufted marmosets, rescued from certain extinction and now tucked safely inside my suit, were getting restless. One dug its claws into my stomach.

All right, all right, calm down! We’ll be there soon. I looked back toward the heavens and up at the giant, cratered moon. Time to go home.

Noah, do you have any idea how stupid that was? Sam glared at me from the doorway.

But you’ve got to admit it was really cool. I lay back on my bed, petting my dog Obadiah, waiting for my sister to finish chewing me out. I was twelve, but she treated me like a baby.

Sam stood with her hands on her hips, trying to look like Mom. They had the same sandy blond hair, but Sam always wore hers in a ponytail, otherwise it’d be sticking up everywhere. A grease smudge on her cheek matched the stains on her coveralls—definitely not Mom, no matter what Sam thought.

I’m in charge while Mom and Dad are gone. She jerked a thumb towards her chest. "Earth in the twenty-first century is dangerous enough! I should never have taken you down there. Do you know what kind of trouble I’d be in if you got yourself killed? Do you even care?"

It seemed I might have gone just a bit too far.

Just plain stupid, Noah! She glared, her dark eyes boring into me.

Everyone in my family had brown eyes, except for me—mine were blue. A freak of nature was the way my sister explained it, which is surprising considering my eye color was the least of my deformities.

Hamilton came into the room, huffing and puffing—probably ran all the way from the magsphere. At fourteen, he already had a hacker’s body, a little soft and pudgy. He looked around and wrinkled his nose, which made me smile. Hamilton normally steered clear of my room, calling it a putrid Petri dish for staphyl-something and pseudo-something-else. Maybe he really was that smart, but he didn’t have to show off all the time by using words nobody understood.

Anyway, there was no better place in the solar system than my room. It might be a mess, but it was my mess.

So, Sam said. Did he damage the suit?

Hamilton shook his head.  Of course, the boosters have considerable carbon build-up, and the fuel cells are depleted, but the gyro-servos are intact, and there doesn’t appear to be any significant wear on the memory polymer skin. He frowned at me—Sam glares, Hamilton frowns. Your actions were incredibly shortsighted.

So Sam was telling me. I tried to look serious, but I hadn’t yet shaken off the exhilaration of that flight. I glanced at my magchair sitting in the corner. How do they expect me to react, when I spend most of my time in that thing?

I was born without the use of both of my legs—a paraplegic—and the only time I feel free is when piloting a ship. I was smiling again—couldn’t help it. Now I could add flying in a thermsuit to the list.

Hamilton and Sam just didn’t get it.

You were supposed to signal us when you had the marmosets. Sam calmed a bit while she paced, stepping over piles of clothes. I could’ve been there in forty minutes to pick you up.

I told you, Haon was there. I couldn’t wait.

Did you actually see him? Her brows scrunched up.

Well, no. My cheeks grew hot. I was a little distracted by the robots trying to kill me.

Noah.... Sam shook her head. You wouldn’t remember what he looks like, anyway. You were only what, five when you met him?

The Zarc family was the guest of honor on Mars, at a benefit for the Earth 3000 Foundation. I played hide and seek with another boy—What’s his name? Stevie?—when I ran right into a giant of a man.

What have we here? he said, lifting my chin with his finger. One of the Zarc children. You must be so proud of your papa. He’s an interplanetary hero—off to save the animals.

Yes, sir, I said. My daddy’s going to let me have a pet ellerphlant.

He loomed over me. Your daddy has no business messing with the natural order of the universe!

I shivered as his face nearly touched mine. After all these years, I could still smell his breath—like rotten meat.

"The animals died out for a reason. The Earth was meant to be used for the good of mankind, not some zoo for ellerphlants!"

His face burned so red I was sure he would hit me, so I smashed into his shins with my magchair and sped off.

He’d left by the time I dragged Dad back, but he had to be Haon. I’d heard the stories about the man who’d dedicated his life to stopping the ARC project, and I’d built a picture of him in my head. This guy fit every detail.

So you have no proof it was Haon you saw? Sam put her fists on her hips.

No, I said. But how do you explain the assassin-bots? Only Haon could have that technology in the twenty-first century.

"It doesn’t prove Haon was there. No one is allowed to travel through time except us."

"No one’s allowed. Doesn’t mean he didn’t do it anyway."

He’d be risking life in prison if he did, Hamilton said, or worse. He could never return to Mars, or Venus—he’d be apprehended the moment he set foot on either planet.

Every human born on Venus or Mars had their DNA sequenced and stored in the Poligarchy’s computer system. Time travel left trace markers in their DNA, and regular searches would flag anyone who didn’t match their saved signature. I, along with the rest of my family, would set off all kinds of alarms if we weren’t designated as the only humans allowed to time travel.

Well, I know what I saw. I glared at both of them. And just because it doesn’t make sense doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

They glanced at each other. Hamilton shrugged, and Sam rolled her eyes.

Someday you’ll want me to believe you, I said, and I’m not going to. I know what I saw. He—

Nothing we can do about it now. Sam shook her head. I don’t understand why you have to be so stupid.

I’m not the one being stupid—

You need to grow up, Noah. She turned to leave.

I fought the urge to stick my tongue out at her. Everything I did lately made her mad. Everything anybody did, for that matter.

Sam whipped around at the door, her ponytail snapping behind her head. Help Ham get the suit cleaned up. Then move your butt down to pod 3794. We have to get the habitat ready. She glared at me once more, then stormed out.

Seems our sister’s none too happy. Hamilton smiled slightly as he watched her leave. When she was out of earshot, he turned to me. I can’t condone what you did, but.... He dropped his voice. How’d the suit handle? Was it incredible?

I grinned. You should’ve seen it when I hit the magthrusters and launched right in front of Haon.

Hamilton raised his eyebrows. You really think it was Haon?

I do.

A glimmer of excitement sparkled in my brother’s eyes. Haon was bent on destroying the ARC project, but some of what he said rang true for Hamilton—political stuff and the proper use of Earth. He and Dad got into huge fights about it.

Well, he scrambled the assassin bots quick enough, I said. I lost them with the second-stage boosters. I massaged my neck. About snapped my head off when the rockets fired, though. You should’ve warned me about that.

I told you not to use the thrusters at all. Hamilton tried for a stern look but didn’t make it. Nevertheless, I’m pleased. The suit exceeded even my best estimates. He surveyed the room. Were you able to retrieve the marmosets?

I pointed to my desk, cluttered with this morning’s homework. A Brief History of Time Travel by Nowell Clark was still displayed on my holopad’s screen. Inside a clear box were two tiny monkeys about twenty centimeters long, with their signature black-tufted ears.

I’m not sure they liked the ride up as much as I did. One of them grabbed onto my stomach for dear life. I lifted my shirt and displayed dozens of red marks peppering my skin. But I rescued them before Haon got there.

Hamilton lifted the box from the desk. We’ll need to get down to the infirmary and give them their shots. One of the monkeys screeched when my brother set the box back down.

Of course Obadiah jumped off my bed and padded over. His nose twitched as he tried to figure out how to get on my desk for a closer look. The marmosets screeched again and started hopping around in their box.

Hamilton laughed when Obadiah turned his pleading hound-dog eyes my way. I don’t think they’re in the mood to play with your dog. He looked at me for a minute. Why don’t you take the marmosets down, then get something to eat. I’ll refurbish the thermsuit on my own. I’m quite certain I don’t want you anywhere near it ever again.

He headed for the door, then turned. The thrusters about snapped your head off, did they? He shook his head. Why is it I spend all my time designing technological marvels that I never get to use?

I reached in and lifted one of the marmosets from the box, careful to avoid its sharp teeth.

Come on, little guy, I won’t hurt you. I held the monkey up. Umm, sorry... little girl. I could feel her heart racing. Just a small pinch and you can go back in the box.

I held her tight and placed her little rump against the injector. She flinched when the machine clicked.

See, that wasn’t so bad. She glared at me.

With one injection, the machine had given her all the vaccinations she needed, and inserted a small tracking device so we’d always be able to find her in the rainforest habitat.

Now for your boyfriend.

He didn’t take it much better. In fact, he laid a good bite on my arm, and it took a while to coax him back into the box afterward.

When I was little, I’d take it personally when animals bit me, but the more time I spent with them, the more I realized how hard what we were doing was on them. These two little monkeys were running around the forests of Brazil with no clue their species would be wiped out in a couple hundred years. Suddenly I show up, throw a net over them, and haul them off to a room on the moon—a room with sterile white walls, the smell of ozone in the artificially produced air, the hum of instruments in the infirmary—enough to scare any creature out of its wits.

Now I viewed my scars as badges of honor. Every bite meant another animal would live. Rescuing these creatures, even if they didn’t know they needed rescuing, had become my purpose.

Come on, you two. Let’s get you a little more comfortable. I picked up the clear box and headed for the rainforest habitat—the one with none of the marmoset’s natural predators. "Living here does have its good points."

After seeing the monkeys safely to their new home, I headed to the mess hall. Usually my magchair felt like an extension of my body—a mere thought would command it where to move and how fast, thanks to the neuro-implant at the base of my skull. Not today; the chair stuttered and lumbered around the room as if mirroring my mood.

Even after spending my entire life in the chair, there were days, like today, when it felt alien. Once I finished growing, doctors could fit me with my permanent neuro-prosthetic legs, but for now, the magchair would have to do.

PB&J please, I said, and our chef-bot came to life in the corner. Oh, and a glass of milk.

As you wish, Master Noah. It always cracked me up to hear the robot’s French accent. Whose idea was that, anyway?

Le Chef 9000 swiveled and passed through swinging doors into the galley.

I moved to the window overlooking the hydroponic gardens. Dozens of robots sped along the hanging plants, tending them and harvesting the fruits and vegetables that fed the hundreds of animals on board the ship. I could just hear Mom: All this food and the only thing you eat is peanut butter and jelly.

Obadiah came up beside me and sat down, oblivious to the view.

I reached down and scratched behind his ears. If there’s food to be found, Obadiah’s around.

The ARC, or Animal Rescue Cruiser, sat docked in a crater on the far side of the moon in the year 2011, so far removed from where my family came from—nearly a thousand years in the future—but it was home. In fact, I really knew no other home, since I’d only visited Mars a couple of times and didn’t remember much, and I’d never been to Venus. My parents founded the ARC project before I was born—its mission: to rescue Earth’s animals from extinction.

I hoped my parents were okay. Most of the time their missions only lasted a few seconds, at least from my perspective—thanks to the quirks of time-travel, even if they’d spent weeks wherever they went, they could just come back to the moment they left.

But this time, something kept them.

Sam and Hamilton said everything would be fine, but I could tell they didn’t believe their own words. The main reason I’d gone on my little thermsuit excursion was that I couldn’t bear to sit around wondering where Mom and Dad were for another second. Or in what century, for that matter.

The robot returned with a tray.

I took the plate with my sandwich and a cold glass of milk. Thanks, LC.

You are most welcome, Master Noah. Will there be anything else?

This is all I need. I gave the robot a weak smile. Three PB&J’s a day keep the doctor away. I scarfed down the sandwich, tossed the crust to Obadiah, and drank my milk.

I’d stalled long enough. Time to help Sam with the habitat.

Magspheres provided the fastest way to get around on a ship the size of a large city. The series of tubes that crisscrossed the decks allowed the spheres to travel at extremely high speeds, while keeping their passengers safe in gel-padded seats. It annoyed me having to climb out of my magchair into the seats, but otherwise I’d probably end up plastered against the wall, ceiling, or floor as the sphere screamed down the twisting tunnels.

I held Obadiah firmly in my lap while we sped along toward deck thirty-seven. When the magsphere stopped, the hatch opened and Obadiah jumped down and ran out. I wriggled back into my chair and followed. Moments later, I sat in front of pod ninety-four, where a screen next to the door displayed Arctic Habitat - Irish Deer. Below, the word Unoccupied flashed in yellow lettering.

I opened the hatch and was hit with the rich smells of fir and fallen leaves. It reminded me of hiking with my dad in the forests of northwest America.

As massive as the ARC was, it remained a bit confining day after day, so as soon as I learned to handle the magchair on my own, Dad took me on excursions to Earth. Down on the planet’s richly varied surface with the sky spread out above me, I never felt more alive. Dad said that was the reason he became a scientist in the first place—listening to stories growing up about what Earth was like before the Cataclysm.

Sometimes I wondered about the government’s edict that no human could live on Earth again. The Poligarchy had decreed that the planet must be saved for the animals we rescued from the past, yet it seemed wrong, somehow, to keep people from living on a world so perfectly suited for human life. Dad said it had to do with the guilt we felt for our role in the destruction of Earth. I wasn’t sure I felt responsible for something that happened hundreds of years ago, but I certainly agreed we should do what we could to bring the animals back. Besides, questioning the Poligarchy could have terrible repercussions, so Dad had said to just avoid the topic.

I shook my head clear. People a lot smarter than me were working on the problems of the solar system.

The temperature in the arctic habitat dipped near freezing, so I pulled a warm parka off a hook just outside the door. I entered the pod and surveyed the room, if it could be called that. Already it looked like a pristine, subalpine forestland—I could barely make out the bulkhead above, and all the trees and undergrowth blocked out most of the walls.

An electric Jeep that Dad brought back from one of his excursions to the late twenty-first century sat next to the hatch. Obadiah ran in circles, excited to go for a ride. I moved to the driver-side door, opened it, and pulled myself from my chair into the seat. Leaving the magchair by the hatch, I slammed the door. Obadiah scampered through the window to the seat next to me.

The Jeep, retrofitted with sensors for my neuro-implant, hummed to life as I pressed the power button and imagined putting my foot on the accelerator. Of course my lifeless legs didn’t move a muscle, but the Jeep lurched forward. It wasn’t made for a twelve-year-old driver, so I struggled to see over the dashboard—but hey, if I could pilot spaceships, surely a clunky old car would be a snap.

I didn’t understand why Dad liked these beaters so much. I’d take a star-runner any day. Or a thermsuit.

We bounced through the woods on a dirt road, little more than a game trail. Obadiah kept his eyes out for squirrels or chipmunks in the undergrowth, but this was a new habitat. Aside from Sam, Obadiah, and me, no living creatures occupied the forest around us. Of course, he didn’t know that, so his whole body shook with excitement as he dashed back and forth between the open windows.

I laughed at him. Life’s pretty great when you haven’t got a clue, Obadiah.

His big pink tongue flopped around as he looked at me.

"What am I saying? You get all the food you want, and you sleep in a warm bed. The most you ever have to worry about is whether or not I’ll give you a crust off my PB&J. You’ve got it all figured out."

Satisfied he’d put me in my place, he licked my face and went back to looking out the window. Frozen potholes cracked and splashed as the Jeep trundled along.

Locate Sam. The screen on the dashboard positioning system lit up, and after a few seconds, a small red dot appeared with little light rings pulsating around it.

I whistled. How’d she get so far already?

The Jeep rattled along for a quarter-hour. The heater didn’t work, and it came nowhere near the feeling of rocketing through space, but I was having fun. Finally, I spotted Sam climbing over a stone ridge. Dozens of robots surrounded her: planters, sculptors, and dozers—my favorite.

She swiped her gloved fingers over her wrist-comm, and the robots headed off down the trail.

I brought the Jeep to a stop, looked around, then yelled out the window. This is amazing!

She turned with a scowl on her face.

What?

Don’t try to suck up to me now, Noah. What took you so long?

Hey, a kid’s gotta eat.

You can eat when Mom and Dad get home. She looked around at the forest. This place is a mess. Help me get it cleaned up.

I think it looks great. Mom and Dad’ll love it. I stayed seated in the Jeep.

Get out here and help me pick up these tools. She bent to retrieve a shovel, then realized I wasn’t moving. Don’t tell me you didn’t bring your chair.

Uh oh, here it comes.

I asked you to come down here and help! How are you going to do that if you can’t even get out of the car? She stomped over and threw the shovel in the back of the Jeep. Come on, Noah, use your brain.

Don’t you think I know I can’t get out of the car? I let my voice rise. Don’t you think every day I wish I could just hop down and—

Oh, don’t play the poor-helpless-cripple card. She finished loading the rest of the tools. You handle yourself just fine, and you knew perfectly well I needed your help. You just use your shriveled legs as an excuse.

I sat stunned. I....

She was right; I did try to get sympathy for being in a magchair, but she had no idea what it was like—always relying on someone else or some piece of technology just to move.

She saw the look on my face. I’m sorry, Noah. Her tone softened further as she looked around the habitat. Do you think the deer will love it?

Of course they’ll love it. It’s just like home, except no wolves or lions to eat them.

Lions don’t live in the same environment as the Irish deer. She smiled. They’ll be safe here. Nothing, and no one, will harm them.

I couldn’t tell by her face what she was thinking. Sam, you’re not really worried about Mom and Dad, are you?

Of course not! She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. I’m sorry, Noah. I am a little worried, but they’ve been late before.

She climbed into the passenger seat. You remember when they went after the blue whales? Dad said it would be a piece of cake and they’d be back before we had the habitat done. And if we didn’t hurry, he’d stick them in your bathtub.

I laughed. They had to go back four times before they finally got Jada corralled in the ship’s hold.

She was one stubborn whale, Sam said.

It still didn’t sit right with me. With the whales, my parents hadn’t actually been late coming home—they just had to keep going back. Still, knowing I wasn’t the only one who was worried made me feel a little better.

The great blue whales swam along a transparent composite wall, oblivious to the tiny humans marveling at their grace.

I’m always surprised how small Jonah is, I said. Well, for a whale.

Sam laughed. Her mood had definitely lifted on the ride to the whales. It hadn’t taken much prodding to get her to come for a visit—this time, anyway. I never knew if she was going to bite my head off or give me a hug. Dad said it was a girl thing—whatever that meant. Far as I knew, seventeen-year-old females might as well be aliens. I’d never figure them out.

"You think Jonah’s small? she said. I remember when Mom and Dad brought you home. She looked at me with that look girls get when they see something cute—doe-eyed with goofy smiles. You were the smallest baby I’d ever seen. Grandma and Grandpa were watching Ham and me on the ARC while Mom and Dad went to Mars, told me they’d be back with my new baby brother in just a few weeks."

Sam cocked her head sideways. You know, now that I think of it, I don’t remember Mom even having a big belly. That must’ve been why you were so small—you came early. She slugged me in the arm. "That’s the last time you were early for anything.

I remember Mom bringing you to my room. Sam’s eyes had that far-off look again. She let me take care of you. Ham and even Dad didn’t seem to want to have much to do with you at first. Maybe they thought you’d break easily, since your legs didn’t work. She frowned and ruffled my hair. I got to help give you baths, feed you, even change your diaper.

Can we talk about something else? I said.

She laughed. Sorry, I hadn’t thought about that in so long. She looked back at the whales and smiled. "Jonah is getting so big."

I watched Jonah swim along with his mother. The baby whale was over six meters long. How many whales do you think this habitat will hold?

Sam glanced away from the calf and his mother after they crested the surface to get some air. Mom would have a better idea than me, but I think somewhere around ten. From what she says, our biggest problem with the whales is their food supply. We have to keep the krill reproducing at a faster rate than the whales eat it.

I wonder where Abner is, I said.

He can’t be far. She pressed her face against the transparent wall and put her hands around her eyes. Yup, there he is.

The giant whale appeared out of the gloom and joined mother and baby.

I shook my head. It boggles my mind sometimes, you know? All these animals, even the great blue whale, on one ship.

In my opinion, the ARC was humankind’s greatest achievement in the thirty-first century—or any other century, for that matter. The fact that the ARC could be so large and still travel through time still amazed me. The ship had been my parents’ brainchild. Sometimes I wished I had their smarts, but then I’d think that would probably make me like Hamilton.

No thank you.

I glanced over at Sam. "Do you really think Mom and Dad are okay?" I couldn’t help myself—it was hard not to worry about them.

They’re fine. She waved her arm, taking in the whales, the ship, everything. All of this wouldn’t exist without them. A little thing like ten thousand years won’t stand between us. She slugged me in the shoulder again. "Besides, they have to come back so I can tell them about your little adventure in the thermsuit. You’re so in trouble."

We stood and watched the whales a while longer. Abner, Jada, and Jonah swam so close to the glass that all I could see was whale—left and right, up and down. How much longer is their migration?

The whales had been swimming for a couple of weeks, while the temperature in the tank was incrementally lowered toward the arctic levels of their feeding ground.

Just another two or three weeks, then we can really start pumping in the krill. Mom says whales—

Sam, Noah, do you copy? Hamilton’s voice came through our wrist-comms.

We hear you, Sam said. What’s up?

Get up here right away. Moses is back.

Sam looked at me, her face filled with concern. Moses shouldn’t be here. She sprinted for the nearest magsphere.

I launched after her.

The ship’s interior screamed by in a blur as we sped toward the ARC Control Center.

I glanced at Sam, who chewed on a strand of hair like she always did when anxious. We sat in silence while the magsphere negotiated tunnels over hundreds of decks. Both of us were thinking the same thing: if Moses was back without our parents, something was wrong.

I held Obadiah tight in my lap. It’s okay, boy, I whispered, pressing my face against his furry ear. They’re fine.

Even at full speed, it took nearly fifteen minutes to reach the Control Center. The door opened with a whoosh and Sam dashed in. Obadiah jumped down and waited for me to pull myself into my magchair.

When we entered, Hamilton was watching an array of holoscreens on the wall. Three-dimensional images sprang forward or receded when he moved his hand in front of them. A battered, dull-gray robot lay on a console to his left, toddler-sized but shaped like a small plane with smooth sloping wings. Barely discernible on the main body’s scorched sides were the letters M.O.S.E.S., an acronym for Mobile Oriented Spacetime Energy Signal. A flashing green light indicated it was linked with the ship’s on-board computer. The images on the screens were downloading from its memory banks.

What’s going on, Ham? My sister moved to the screens and studied the image Hamilton waved to the foreground. Why’s Moses here?

I don’t know for sure. He turned to a small toolbox and began pulling out various implements. He only arrived twenty minutes ago. Something’s wrong with his memory crystal. He’s been through some kind of electrical shock and his system is damaged.

He laid another tool next to the robot.

"Most of the data I’ve retrieved is what I expected. Mom and Dad entered Northern Europe in the DUV II, exactly when they wanted to—in 8512 B.C. They set up camp on a remote plateau, separated from any people groups, and began their indigenous species survey."

He turned and brought a three-dimensional image to the foreground. Here’s the recording of their discovery of the Irish deer.

The image on the screen crackled and flickered before clearing up. A deer the size of a moose materialized on the floor between us. The buck, with antlers maybe two and a half meters across, lifted its head and sniffed the air. Obadiah cocked his head sideways and lifted his nose, trying to smell the deer. He backed up and pressed himself against my chair.

I patted his head. It’s okay—he won’t hurt you.

Mom’s voice filled the room. We’ve found a bull—a magnificent example. We’re trying to tag him so we can track his movements over the next few days. Hopefully he’ll lead us to his herd, and we can find our candidates for transport. She sounded out of breath, but her voice quivered with excitement. This was her element.

Hamilton flicked the image back to the screen and turned toward the robot. Moses was on auxiliary power when he returned. I’ve been downloading what I can from his memory while he recharges.

He opened a small panel on Moses’s side and flipped a switch. He should be charged enough to let us know why he returned without Mom and Dad, assuming his speech processors haven’t been fried.

A dull hum filled the room as the robot rose off the console and spun vertically. The smooth nose cone split in half, and like a turtle coming out of its shell, an oblong humanoid head emerged.

Tr—apped, Moses chirped. Mis—sion com—promised.

Hamilton adjusted a few things in the open panel with a screwdriver. Routing more power to his voice processor.

Two apertures on the robot’s face spiraled open. Your moth—er and father... grave danger.

Hamilton continued turning screws and moving sliders.

Haon located your... parents. Haon is after the deer.

Sam’s eyes widened. What do you mean he was there? That’s impossible!

Now do you believe me? I’d been right, not that it made me feel any better.

Not now, Noah. Moses, how did Haon find them?

The robot cocked his head sideways. I don’t have enough information to suggest a hypothesis.

Hamilton stepped back.

Moses continued, his voice processor fully functional. All indications are it was Haon himself. He appeared the moment your parents attempted to snare a doe. The robot turned toward the monitor bank. Observe.

The nine screens went dark, then all of them lit up with a single scene. We moved back when a nearly life-sized image of our father, Noah Zarc, Sr., leapt from the screen to the middle of the room. Snow piled deep all around him and ice crystals hung in his beard and mustache. His brown eyes twinkled beneath bushy eyebrows. His face, just starting to show laugh lines around his mouth and eyes, beamed in anticipation. He hid behind a tree and motioned off to his left.

Hannah, bring her around to your right. He turned his large frame sideways, obviously trying to hide behind the trunk, not too successfully—Dad had put on a few pounds over the past couple of years. That’s right. Easy.

A female deer strolled into the scene. She seemed to step from the monitors to the control center floor. Dad held a photon-snare and pointed the shimmering energy coil toward the deer.

A little closer, he whispered.

The deer hesitantly moved a few more steps forward, her nose in the air, sniffing. Snow swirled around her.

Dad got ready to spring with the snare—

A loud pop filled the room! Obadiah yelped, and I stared in horror at the red spot on the doe’s flank. She turned to leap away, but barely took two steps before she stumbled and fell in the snow.

Dad froze. From the whirling white flakes stepped a huge man wrapped in furs, his face hidden by a shaggy parka hood. In one hand he held a large rifle, an old twentieth-century model with a modern homing scope mounted on top. He walked to the floor in front of us and nudged the deer’s head with the toe of his boot.

Don’t move, Hannah, Dad whispered. He doesn’t know we’re here.

The man set his gun on the ground, then reached up a meaty hand and pulled back his hood. For a moment, I was surprised how much he looked like my dad—the same shape to his nose, the same dark eyes—but the dead deer at his feet made clear this man was nothing like my dad. He did, however, look like the man I remembered from years before back on Mars.

Haon, said Dad.

Moses turned from the monitor-bank. There is a ninety-eight percent certainty the individual was Haon. All recognition signatures, excluding one anomaly in the DNA catalogue, match his known parameters. Furthermore, the....

Moses trailed off and cocked his head.

Furthermore, the.... Again he stopped. For a robot he was doing a pretty good job of looking confused. There is something wrong with my memory banks. There was more information, but I am unable to retrieve it.

You’ve suffered some kind of electrical interference, Hamilton said. Do you remember getting shocked?

Moses sat for a moment, the apertures of his eyes opening and closing. Negative.

What about Mom and Dad? I looked back and forth between Moses and Hamilton. Where are they?

Moses turned toward me. They... they are trapped in the Ice Age with no way home.

The control room went silent. We watched Haon hoist the deer on his back and stagger off into whiteness. Suddenly the steel room around me seemed cold and lifeless.

Obadiah knew something was wrong. He jumped onto my magchair, licked my face once, and curled up in a ball on my lap.

But I don’t understand, Sam said. What do you mean they’re trapped in the Ice Age? Why send you back? Why didn’t they just get another deer and come back themselves?

That is what they planned, Moses said. Your mother returned to the ship to locate Haon using the onboard sensors, while your father.... The robot trailed off yet again. There is another gap in my memory.

Run a full diagnostic scan, Hamilton said.

Acknowledged. The robot turned back toward the screens. While I am running the scan, you can view a recording your father left for you. I believe it is intact.

Dad’s image appeared before us—his hair wild and his eyes red. He sat on the snowy ground and looked directly at us.

I shivered.

As Moses has probably told you, somehow Haon found us. The vein on Dad’s temple pulsed. He hijacked our ship.... The image flickered, and I could see the floor through Dad’s image. His lips continued moving, but no sound came out.

What’s he saying? I looked at Moses, but he was still running his diagnostic scan.

...so I have no... where he.... The sound and the image stabilized. I’ve decided to send Moses after them—if Haon hasn’t jumped yet, the robot should be able to follow.

He leaned forward until it seemed like his face was less than a meter from mine. I know this comes as a great shock to you kids. I don’t know how Haon followed us. Perhaps I’ve been too careless. He stopped again and took a deep breath, more distraught than I’d ever seen him. We have to find him. Who knows what he...? He shook his head. Just get here as soon as you can.

Dad’s image flickered out, and the weight of ten thousand years fell between us.

Hamilton spoke first. Were you able to follow Haon?

We all looked at Moses.

His eyes spiraled open. Affirmative. Haon traveled to twelfth-century Europe, to a castle in the Scottish highlands.

I swiveled toward the door. Let’s go, then!

Hamilton looked at Moses. Do you have space-time coordinates for Mom and Dad’s location?

Affirmative. A small door on the robot’s chest opened. A tray slid out with two vials containing a dark red liquid. I retrieved DNA samples from both time-streams. One is a sample of your father’s blood, the other from a squirrel I captured in Scotland.

Hamilton nodded. So we can return to the exact time and place when you retrieved those samples.

I threw my hands up. "Why don’t we just go back before Haon got there? Then we can stop him from taking the DUV II! We still have the original coordinates Mom and Dad used to go after the deer."

It can’t be done, Hamilton said. "Research has shown time and time again that you can’t alter events of the past. Mom and Dad were stranded in the Ice Age. Haon did hijack their ship. There’s nothing we can do to stop that."

I glared at my brother. Then what good is time traveling?

He looked ready to launch into one of his big long explanations but stopped himself. Our biggest problem, at the moment, is that we don’t have a ship.

Sam spun around. What do you mean we don’t have a ship? We’ve got loads down in the hangar!

Hamilton’s voice remained calm, of course. "What I should have said is we don’t have a ship equipped for the time jump. Since the unfortunate accident when we lost the DUV I over southern New Mexico—I squirmed in my chair under his gaze—we’ve been operating without a backup. Dad planned to move the DUV III to operational status before he made the next jump, but then Moses returned with the time-markers for the Irish deer. Dad was too excited to wait, so he and Mom agreed to do the final calibrations on the DUV III’s warp manifold after they returned."

Then take another ship, I said.

No other ship has a hull built to withstand the strain. Warping spacetime around most objects—Hamilton snapped his fingers—simply snuffs them out of existence. Only a ship built specifically to withstand the extreme forces can make the jump.

But we’ve got ships much bigger than the DUV class. How come they can’t handle it? I grew more irritated. We needed to rescue our parents, and he lectured us on the physics of time travel.

"It’s not entirely about size. It’s more about shape. The DUV class is the only ship we have capable of sliding through the time-stream without causing too great a disturbance. It’s no coincidence that Moses and the DUV class ships have the same profile. The only other ship built to the appropriate specs is the ARC herself."

"How long would it take to get the DUV III operational? Sam said. I thought it was ready to go, except the calibration."

Moses said, "Your father was not prepared to trust the reliability of the DUV III’s warp manifold. Its jumps could be erratic."

"So we take the ARC," I said.

"We haven’t moved the ARC in years, Sam said. And last time, we had Mom and Dad with us."

Nevertheless, Hamilton said, I think it’s our most logical choice.

Fine, Sam said. "We’ll take the ARC. We need to get moving! We’re running out of time."

Hamilton let out a big sigh. Haven’t you been listening? We have all the time in the solar system. We could leave in ten years and still reach Mom and Dad at the moment Moses left them.

Sam’s face grew red and she spoke through clenched teeth. We aren’t going to take ten years!

Of course not. Hamilton backed away. "How long do you think it’ll take to prepare the ARC?"

Shouldn’t be more than a couple of days. She looked at me, her brows knitted together. "As long as we all do our part."

Hamilton nodded. I’ll work with Moses to process the DNA samples and establish coordinates.

Fine. Sam turned toward the door. Noah, you and I need to get the animals secure and the ship ready to leave the surface of the moon. I don’t care what Hamilton says—we need to hurry.

Sam and I worked all day getting the ARC ready to go. It was hard to focus—I had to go over the simplest stuff again and again to get it right. That night, too tired even to get undressed, I just collapsed into bed. No matter how tired, though, or how much I tossed and turned, I couldn’t get comfortable. Sam and Hamilton seemed to be able to keep it together, to brush off what was on all our minds—but not me.

I thought of a morning when I was seven or eight, Mom seated at her desk looking through a microscope while I played with some constructo-cubes on the floor. I loved to play in her lab—all the equipment, the whirring of machines—but I really just loved being around her, talking to her.

Mom, do you think I’ll ever be like everyone else?

She looked up from her work. Of course not, Noah. You’re—

Special. I glared at her. Maybe I don’t want to be special.

She got down on the floor and wrapped me in her arms. Everyone enters this world with some kind of handicap. Whether it’s the place they live, the family they’re born into or the weakness of their legs, no one has a perfect life.

She didn’t sugarcoat the truth.

"What makes each of us special is how we deal with our circumstances. She brushed my hair out of my face with her hand. I probably don’t tell you often enough how proud I am of you. You handle yourself better than I ever could."

I looked into her eyes. There were no tears, just a firm conviction that she would never let me go.

Now she was gone.

Being with Dad was never that easy—he was just harder to talk to, and we weren’t really close—but he loved me. How could I go on without either of them?

I woke the next morning with sheets crumpled in my fists. Enough self-pity. No matter what Hamilton said, we need to get moving and find Mom and Dad now. I dressed super-fast and went looking for Sam.

The biggest problem with moving the ship from the moon’s surface was gravity; not the gravity holding the ship down—the ARC could easily break free of the moon’s pull—but the lack of gravity in space. Even in one-sixth gravity on the moon, the animals could live comfortably. It took getting used to, but they adapted remarkably fast. Once we left the moon’s surface, though, there would be no gravity at all to hold them down.

Of course, Dad and the engineers back home thought through that problem when they designed the ARC. Each habitat, or pod, was constructed on its own gimbal, which meant it was a totally self-contained sphere or cylinder that could be spun independently of the ship, generating its own virtual gravity. In addition, during acceleration, all the habitats would simply pivot so that down was toward the back of the ship. Depending upon acceleration, this was a better imitation of true gravity.

I didn’t understand how it all worked, but I loved the ride. In space, when we weren’t accelerating, only the pods had gravity. It was a blast floating around the ship in zero-G—no need for magchairs or thermsuits. I was free as a bird.

Over the next two days, Sam and I worked together to get all the gimbals unlocked, so we could test every habitat. When there were problems with a pod, we would go down and check it manually. Most released remotely, as they should, but it was no small task to get the rest in order.

On the morning of the second day, Sam and I worked to release the dire wolf habitat. Something had dropped between the outer hatch and the pod’s exterior plate, causing it to jam.

How long do you think Mom and Dad can last? I said.

Sam shook her head. Remember what Ham said? We have time on our side. The DNA sample Moses retrieved will allow us to pinpoint exactly when and where Mom and Dad are in spacetime. So even though for us it’s been two days, for them it’ll only be a few hours at most before we show up. Make sense?

I guess so. It’s just hard to get your mind around it. I thought for a minute. I still don’t get what DNA has to do with anything.

Sam stopped cranking the ratchet she was using. "Well, I’m no expert, but the way Ham explained it to me was that the earth is constantly bombarded with cosmic rays—radiation that travels millions if not billions of miles through space from every direction. That radiation leaves markers in the DNA—signatures that, when analyzed, can give the location in spacetime for when and where that organism lived. Our DNA is keeping a record of everywhere we’ve ever been, and everywhen."

"Ah, now it’s perfectly clear." I laughed.

Sam laughed too. Yeah, just thinking about it gives me a headache.

And you and Hamilton are the smart ones. Imagine what it’s like for me to try and wrap my mind around it.

I’m sure you do just fine. You only pretend to be slow while you’re pulling the wool over Ham’s eyes or mine with some scheme. She smiled and got back to work on the hatch.

You know he hates it when you call him Ham, don’t you? He says he’s no side of pork.

She laughed again. Why do you think I do it?

By mid-afternoon two days after Moses’ return, we had the ARC ready to go. Hamilton wanted to wait one hour more for daylight to cover the near side of the earth—less chance of being spotted. During the twenty-first century, thousands of telescopes were pointed toward the night sky. We would try to keep the moon between Earth and us for as long as possible. Our parents always stressed that the most important rule of time travel was not letting yourself be seen.

We strapped ourselves into our seats in the ARC Control Center. I always got excited right before a lift-off. So did my stomach, but it would calm down as soon as the engines roared to life.

Sam sat in Dad’s chair between Hamilton and me. She was in charge, with a long checklist displayed on the monitor connected to a swivel arm on her seat. Even Mom and Dad didn’t know everything it took to get the ARC off the ground.

Sam tapped her finger on the screen. Pods ready for departure, Noah?

I scrolled down the long row of numbers on my monitor. All had a steady green light.

Pods are go.

Power and pressure systems?

"Power is nominal. Pressure is holding at a steady one atm."

Ham, do you have a lock on the time-stream for Dad?

An image on the screen showed a pulsing beam of light connecting a long line of round Earths, like a string of blue pearls moving off into the darkness of space.

Northern Europe, 8512 B.C., requiring three hundred and twenty-six jumps. Hamilton looked at Sam. Warp-processors powered and ready.

Disengage the docking clamps, Sam said. The screens switched to an external view of the ARC. Cameras, mounted on several sides of the crater we called home, showed the ship from every angle. Take us out of here.

The tiniest shudder rocked us as the main thrusters fired.

Sam turned to me, then Hamilton, and gave us a thumbs-up. Let’s go get Mom and Dad.

On screen, our giant ship erupted in flames along its bottom edge. Normally, ships used maglifters to launch, creating a magnetic field polar opposite the field of the planet or moon, but the ARC was so big it needed conventional rockets to help get it off the ground. The ship, shaped somewhat like an enormous snub-winged manta ray, with deck after deck flickering in blue light, slowly rose from the moon’s surface. From the outside, with no frame of reference, the ARC didn’t look as big as it really was—at more than sixteen kilometers long and eight kilometers wingtip to wingtip, larger than most twenty-first-century cities on the planet below us.

Thrusters fired as soon as the ship cleared the rim of the crater, tilting the nose of the ARC upward.

The shipboard computer’s mechanical voice filled the room. Brace for main engine ignition. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Ignition.

An enormous ball of fire exploded from the rear of the ship, and the holoscreens flickered out for a second. The craft shook and rumbled all around us. The vibration rattled my bones. It had been a long time since we last moved the ARC, and I’d forgotten how much force it took to get her going. I knew better, but the ship felt as if it would fall apart around us. Poor Obadiah was probably a scared, shivering ball of fur in his crate back in my room.

The screens changed to show the stars above us. The round, cratered horizon of the moon was just visible along the bottom edge. For several long minutes the acceleration was so great I could barely lift my arms.

Reaching moon orbital altitude in ten seconds, Hamilton said. He peered at his own monitor closely.

Five seconds.

I switched my monitor to the rear view. The moon’s surface fell away at an astonishing rate.

We’ve reached moon orbital altitude.

My body grew light and my stomach lurched as gravity changed to zero-G. A smile crept across my face. I couldn’t wait to fly around the corridors of the ship.

Sam let out a sigh of relief. How long until we make the first jump?

Hamilton overlaid the main screens with the same string of Earths image. Over the first globe a timer counted down.

Three minutes and fourteen seconds. Powering the warp manifold now.

I monitored the pods. Peeking in on several species told me none suffered much from the acceleration. Most lay down as if they were sleeping. But gradually, when the rate of acceleration decreased and apparent gravity returned to the level they were used to, the animals started to move about again.

How long will the jumps last? I said.

Moses estimated two hours, thirty-seven minutes, Hamilton said. Preparing for the first jump.

The timer ticked down from thirty seconds. The stars shimmered through a purple haze that bent the light.

Twenty seconds.

Stars rippled while blue-green electrical energy crackled around the ship.

Ten seconds.

A loud hum filled the room. Stars melted and blurred together in a fiery conflagration of energy. One moment we rocketed toward space, the next moment a view of Earth filled the screens.

The ARC skimmed over the continent of Africa toward the darkness of space. Within minutes, the earth disappeared behind us. The next image of Earth in line on the display now had a countdown of fourteen minutes, seven seconds until jump.

Hamilton had tried to explain, several times, how the whole time travel thing worked, but I still couldn’t get it. Somehow, while the ARC traveled through space, it created a dense field around itself, which warped the fabric of space and time. Hamilton said all we needed to do to travel back in time was aim toward a point in space where the earth used to be, or any other landmark, then warp present space so it touched past space. Then we could slide through a hole between them.

At one point when I was feeling totally lost, Hamilton took an old handkerchief and a needle and thread and tried to explain it again.

This handkerchief represents spacetime. He drew a dot near one edge. This is the present location of Earth. He drew a dot on the other edge. This is a past location. In order for us to travel back to the past, we need to bring these two edges closer together. He folded the handkerchief so the two dots touched.

The energy needed increases exponentially for the amount of spacetime warped. So we usually hop through time in shorter jumps. He drew several dots between the two. Then he took the needle and thread and pushed it through each dot.

"Once we know when we want to go to and where a specific point in space will be, such as the earth at any given time, we can jump from Earth to Earth to Earth all the way back, as far as we want. He pulled the thread tight and brought all the dots together. Make sense?"

Yeah, I think so. Earth’s a big booger in the handkerchief of time.

I give up! He stormed out of the room.

My brother pored over his monitor.

Maybe I’ll have to quit giving him such a hard time. I laughed out loud, saw the way he and Sam looked up at me, and reconsidered.

Purple and green pulses enveloped the ARC, and we jumped again. Once more Earth appeared below us. At first I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was different, but the planet would keep changing the farther back in time we went. It would become wilder, less developed—and that’s what was different. Earth this time was greener.

We jumped like this for more than two hours—until our final jump. For several minutes after it, the ship fired reverse thrusters and slowed while Hamilton scanned over some charts on his screen.

What’s wrong? I said.

Earth isn’t where it’s supposed to be.

What? Sam unbuckled and moved to the window. Where is it?

That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Hamilton snapped the image to the main screen. Several planets appeared, as well as a flashing light he pointed at, labeled ARC.

We’re here. He pointed at another image. And Earth is here.

Sam studied the screen. I can see that.

It didn’t really look all that far to me.

Computer, please calculate distance to Earth, he said.

Two point eight three million kilometers.

Not as bad as I thought. Hamilton scratched his chin. But it still doesn’t make any sense. We should have entered this spacetime just outside the orbit of the moon. He ran through more screens, checking and rechecking his numbers.

Well, there’s not much we can do about it now, Sam said. Let’s get moving. Noah?

I’m on it. I brought my monitor back and punched up the coordinates for Earth.

Computer, take us in.

It took three more hours to get to Earth, but somehow it felt much longer. We passed the moon and zeroed in on the blue planet. Finally, the ship’s computer prepared to enter Earth’s orbit.

I exhaled loudly. We’d made it.

Engage the light-deflecting shields, Sam said. No sense panicking the locals by letting sun reflect off our hull. She tilted her head toward me and smiled. Check on the pods again, then meet me in Hangar Bay One. I want to get down there as soon as we can. Hopefully Mom and Dad have kept themselves warm.

Twisting and spiraling, I flew down a tube through the center of the whale habitat. Good thing I loved zero-G.

I didn’t need to check on all the animals—just the biggest, the ones who seemed to struggle most with disorienting changes in gravity. The whales sometimes had trouble knowing which way was up so they could surface for air.

I slowed and looked down through a window at the miniature sea. Small swells rolled back and forth on the surface as the artificial ocean spun around me. Within moments, the spray from all three whales spouted up toward my perch hundreds of meters above them. They didn’t seem to be having any trouble at all. I’d have loved to stay and watch, but I still had a few more animals to check