Marsquake! (13 page)

“It was my idea,” Sean said. “We all pitched in, but basically it was my idea. The organism has changed me a little, but it hasn’t made me someone I’m not.
I’m still Sean Doe, the son of Amanda Simak. I’m still good at some things and lousy at others. What I’m telling you is not to worry. Nothing really happened last month. We didn’t infect the water supply at all. We did fool the medical computers into thinking they couldn’t communicate with nanobots. That made you all believe that you had the same bug in your blood that I’ve got in mine.”

Alex put his hand on Sean’s shoulder. “This is my best friend,” he said simply. “We’re on the same side, always. And that was the point of all this. For the last few weeks, we’ve all been on the same side. We’ve all been Martians, really and truly. No ‘us’ and ‘them.’ Just a big
us
.”

“Some of you were probably scared out of your wits,” Mickey said. “One thing I’ve learned about myself is this: Sometimes it’s okay to be scared. Take me—I’m scared of closed-in places underground. But that’s me. My fear is part of me, but it isn’t me. I can control it. I can live with it. All of you have lived with fear too. We’ve dealt with it over one whole
Martian year now. And guess what? The fear didn’t win. We did.”

Elizabeth added, “Some of you don’t like Asians. That hurt me. But here on Mars, there are no Asians, no Africans. There’s only us. If I’ve hurt anyone, I ask your forgiveness. If you’ve hurt me, I forgive you. We’re together in this. Now and for always, we’re standing together.”

And then Roger. And Patrick. Each and every one of them spoke, even Nickie, who always claimed to be terminally shy. Last of all, Sean spoke again.

He said, “The hardest thing we’ve had to give up here on Mars isn’t comfort. It isn’t security. It’s hate. Back on Earth there was too much of it, and it ruined everyone’s chances. Here we can’t afford it. We’re getting rid of it, all of it.” He gulped, then looked directly into the camera. “All my life, I’ve hated the terrorists who killed my father and my mother. I wasn’t even old enough to remember them. I always thought that if I could find the people who—” He clenched his fists, then unclenched them again. “But I forgive them,” he said softly.
“They’ve made Earth into a place of pain and suffering. They have to live there. I don’t. I’m a Martian.”

Jenny said, “That’s how we feel. That’s why we did what we’ve done. Look around you. This world is coming back to life. We’re in for the experience of a lifetime—of a thousand, thousand lifetimes! In the future we’re going to face doubt and danger. And you know what? We’re going to make it. That’s all we have to say. We’ll take any punishment you prescribe. We’ll live with the consequences of what we believe and what we’ve done. But before you punish us, think about what it means to be
us
. Don’t think about any
them. They
don’t exist. Just us. Join us and make this a world fit for everyone.”

“And we’re out,” Nickie said. “Should I unlock the doors?”

“Have to sooner or later,” Sean said. He put one arm over Alex’s shoulders, another over Jenny’s. “Okay,” he said. “Do it. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

And a week later …

School began again.

Harold Ellman gave Sean his schedule of classes. “You’re a very effective public speaker, Mr. Doe,” the scowling teacher said. “However, that is not going to exempt you from Advanced Calculus. I suggest you begin studying early.”

The pilot of the
Magellan
looked as if he couldn’t believe his ears. “No one?”

“Not a single person,” Amanda said. “We’re all staying. In fact, we want to let the Luna colonists know that if any of them want to come to Mars, we’re prepared to accept them in reasonable numbers.”

Jenny looked dubiously at Mickey. “Are you sure about this?”

“I always wanted to get rid of these glasses,” he said. “Cheers.”

And he drank a glass of water.

Rormer sounded as if he had a frog in his throat. “So much done to my people,” he muttered. “But if you can forgive, well, I suppose—”

“It’s all right, Dr. Rormer,” Elizabeth said, smiling gently.

The world rolled on. It was a strange world, not the world any of them had been born into, and it had a million ways to kill them. But deep within Mars, life was stirring again, and it was not monstrous life, not an alien force that was going to cut them down. It was just … different.

And maybe not for always, and not everywhere, but at that time, and in that place, and for long enough, the people who lived on the planet had decided that difference was nothing to fear.

When my good friend Thomas E. Fuller first suggested that we write a few books set on Mars, his enthusiasm made me excited about the series that we came to call Mars: Year One. We met half a dozen times and planned out three stories. The first was
Marooned!
The second was
Missing!
The last one is this book,
Marsquake!
Thomas thought up all the titles.

Sadly Thomas died from a sudden heart attack late in 2002. Although we had plotted out all three books, I was left to write them on my own. Still, Thomas’s influence was so great that at times I could almost hear his voice. I know he would be pleased that all three books have been written and published.

Any writer will tell you that no one can write a story without help. I’d like to thank Thomas’s children—Edward, Anthony, John, and Christina—and his former wife, Berta, for their support while I was working on the series. I am very grateful to Ron Butler, who as been a long-time friend to both Thomas and me, for his engineering and scientific advice. Our editor, Jennifer Klonsky, has been patient and helpful, and without her I could not have finished the books. Finally, all of Thomas’s friends at the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company and the Dark River Writers’ Group have offered helpful advice and encouragement, and I thank them, too.

And so the first year of the Martian colony comes to a close. But the future lies ahead, a whole new universe of possibility and excitement. Let’s all look forward to it. Great new wonders are waiting for us.

—Brad Strickland

BRAD STRICKLAND is also the co-author of our Pirate Hunter trilogy as well as many middle-grade novels based on licensed properties, including Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Star Trek. He lives in Oakwood, Georgia.

The late THOMAS E. FULLER is also the co-author, with Brad Strickland, of our Pirate Hunter trilogy.

M
ARS HAS A MILLION DIFFERENT WAYS TO KILL YOU
….

The year is 2085. Mars Experimental Station One, a colony built to test humans’ ability to live in an alien and hostile environment, has been in existence for ten years. This functioning city of two thousand people includes only twenty teenagers, each hand selected from the billions on Earth as part of the controversial Asimov Project.

The Asimov teens each have reasons to doubt themselves and distrust each other. But one thing is certain: Mars offers them something Earth never could. When the existence of Marsport is threatened, the group must overcome their fears and join forces, for their survival depends on nothing less.

F
OLLOW THE ADVENTURES OF THESE TEENS IN THE
M
ARS
Y
EAR
O
NE TRILOGY
:

#1 M
AROONED
!

#2 M
ISSING
!

#3 M
ARSQUAKE
!

A
LADDIN
P
APERBACKS
S
IMON
& S
CHUSTER
C
HILDREN’S
D
IVISION

OUTCAST

#1 The Un-Magician
by Christopher Golden & Thomas E. Sniegoski

TIMOTHY IS A FREAK,
a weakling, an impossibility. He’s the only person in existence without magical powers and has spent his entire life hidden on a remote island.

When Timothy is finally taken back to the city of his birth, he finds he is marked for death. Assassins are watching his every move, and the government wants him destroyed. Timothy can’t imagine what threat he could possibly pose; after all, he wields no power in this world.

Or does he?

The Outcast quartet begins August 2004

Aladdin Paperbacks · Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

PENDRAGON

Bobby Pendragon is a seemingly normal fourteen-year-old boy. He has a family, a home, and a possible new girlfriend. But something happens to Bobby that changes his life forever.

HE IS CHOSEN TO DETERMINE THE COURSE OF HUMAN EXISTENCE.

Pulled away from the comfort of his family and suburban home, Bobby is launched into the middle of an immense, interdimensional conflict involving racial tensions, threatened ecosystems, and more. It’s a journey of danger and discovery for Bobby, and his success or failure will do nothing less than determine the fate of the world….

PENDRAGON by D. J. MacHale

Book One: The Merchant of Death

Book Two: The Lost City of Faar

Book Three: The Never War

Book Four: The Reality Bug

Book Five: Black Water

Coming Soon: Book Six: The Rivers of Zadaa

From Aladdin Paperbacks · Published by Simon & Schuster

Imagine a world where families are allowed only two children. Illegal third children—shadow children—must live in hiding, for if they are discovered, there is only one punishment: Death.

Read the Shadow Children series by
MARGARET PETERSON HADDIX