Broken Orbit | ONC

Ark

              Noah of the Ark. I understood what he implied immediately. The Ark. I was at the Ark. It was real. For a moment, I felt faint. I stumbled to the side before catching my grip on the door. My leg dragged. Chance skittered out of the way, gaining the man's attention. His eyes widened.

    "You have a dog."

    I looked down at Chance before nodding slightly. The man gestured at the chair again. Still stunned, I obeyed and stumbled forward. My hand helped leverage me onto the seat. My left leg sat at a funny angle as I tried to prevent my hip from getting any more damage.

    Chance circled my feet. The man turned to the side and looked at me. "May I?"

    I shrugged lightly. He offered his hand to Chance. The dog skittered back to my feet. My lip quirked slightly. "You're the third person he's met. He's shy." My voice was still raspy.

    "I understand," said the man. He straightened. "May I ask for you to remove your scarves?"

   My spine clenched. "Afraid not."

    "The room is heated," he stated. "You will not suffer by removing them. I want to see who I'm talking to."

    Heated? My eyebrows pulled together. I couldn't tell. Wouldn't I have felt the warm air? Curious, I carefully pulled down one of my scarves. My eyes didn't water from the chill. Awed, I pulled all three down. For the first time in months, my eyes were free of all covers. I pulled down my hood. There was still no warmth against my cheeks, but they weren't cold.

    "Frostnip," remarked the man. "Your ears might have frostbite, but you can't feel the heat yet. Give it a few minutes. You'll feel it eventually. I'm Azra." He offered his hand.

    I shook in return, still in shock. "Drifter Webster. Is this really the Ark? It's real?"

    Azra nodded. "It's real."

    I shook my head slowly. "It doesn't feel like it. I can't believe it." This is the Ark? Is there any way this is real?

    "That's understandable. How long have you been traveling?"

    It was weird to have my face exposed after so long. I thought about my answer. "Perhaps four and a half months? I started in a northern U.S. State."

    Azra whistled. "Congratulations. How did you survive?"

    "It wasn't easy. When it wasn't as cold, I could risk spending nights outside, but I traveling by hopping between towns and sheltering for the night." I hesitated. "If I can ask, how do you have power?"

   "We have geothermal and gravitational energy," he replied. "There are machines that use Earth's gravity to build friction, where we can harness it. Before Lover's passage, several machines were planted miles within Earth's surface and they gather geothermal energy. With those combined, as well as some good old-fashioned man-generated friction, we can power the surface compound as well as the underground system."

   "Man-generated friction?"

   "A machine where several people stay in shifts, running on old treadmills and using stationary bikes. We use the friction from the machines to gather more energy. At the same time, we stay in shape."

   "Clever," I muttered. "You use the man-generated power to jumpstart the other systems. The other systems power the treadmills and bikes."

   "We also use hydro-power," he added. "It's enough to run all emergency systems."

   "That's brilliant," I admitted. "How does the underground system work?"

   Azra didn't seem upset with my questioning. My heart was starting to race. "Several large cave systems. They're large enough to have housing, gardens, and factories. The caves were constructed before orbit was broken. The gardens work with artificial light and the water we gather from the water system, which melts snow and runs it through a filter. Oxygen is recycled through the gardens, because the plants outnumber other organisms three to one. There's a back-up life support system, though."