Sneak Peek: Prologue to Noah's Custodian

Here is your exclusive first look at the newly edited Prologue of my first novel, Noah's Custodian. I wrote it in answer to last November's NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month.

Just a quick aside on the editing: Many authors, especially novices- myself included- use too many words and a passive voice. David Gerrold, in his book Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, details this fault in the chapter "To be or Naught to Be". He advocates writing utilizing what is called E-Prime: banishing the word 'be' in all its iterations in your writing. To do it, you must eliminate these words: "am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being and become" from your prose. I would say it's still OK for dialogue- people use those words all the time in their speech. Try it sometime- it forces you to write better sentences.

If you notice, this post is e-prime.. until just then.. oops! Tougher than you think!

So, without further ado:

PROLOGUE

            In 2058, the governments of the world agreed to fund and develop a way to send enough material, digital archives, and genetic repositories to rebuild civilization as well as the natural world should disaster strike and extinction threaten mankind.

            The desire for indefinite survival of the species after an immense, climate-disrupting volcanic eruption drove the creation of the ARC program, so-named in homage to the biblical story of the Great Flood. The ARC’s design, incorporating the latest in quantum technology, space-time warping and other nascent innovations, enabled travel far from Earth, out of the solar system and into interstellar space. The idea: preserve Earth’s flora and fauna, along with massive digital archives of accumulated knowledge, by sending the vessel far from home and recalling it if civilization faced extinction. The ship also could seed a large settlement on a suitable planet should some cataclysm render Earth uninhabitable.

            Construction of the ship began in 2068 for a launch target of 2080. State of the art factories all over the world, orbital space docks, and newly constructed lunar industrial parks all ran around the clock building components. The ship itself slowly came together on a massive dock that orbited the Moon. Countless issues plagued the project, politicians played political games and engineers conquered myriad technical obstacles, but construction finally completed in 2086.

            Special equipment in the ARC allowed for replication of life from genetic material stored on board- including people. A wide variety of artificial wombs and incubators would grow virtually any animal, as well as humans. Other systems capable of mass producing microorganisms, algae, seeds, pollen, and lower classes of animals ensured humankind’s ability to recreate a huge portion of the ecosystem, either on Earth or another desirable planet. Heralded as the most advanced space vessel ever conceived and the crowning achievement of civilization, amazing technology enabled the storage of the sum total of humankind’s knowledge, arts, and innovation.

            Fully vetted crewmembers, scientists and technicians spent years training, success meaning that they would stay a state of cryogenic hibernation until Earth had need of the ARC, which would only happen if an extinction-level event threatened the planet, or if a millennium went by, what ever came first. Should some disaster destroy the Earth or render it unsuitable for life, the ARC would search for another planet to colonize.

            Many folks felt uncomfortable with only a supercomputer and its robotic personnel fully controlling the ship with no human monitoring, so the project leaders consented to having at least one soul awake, watching over the ship and its artificial captain at all times. Thus, one person would fill the position of ship's custodian, replaced as needed over the years by the baby-making artificial womb. The ship contained a training center and diversion simulator that would teach the children and young adults everything they needed to know, allowing them to fulfill their duties as custodians, with the simulator providing various entertainments and hyper-realistic avenues for social interaction to keep them sane and ward off the inevitable loneliness of their solitary existence.

            Early in 2088, after a massive worldwide tour that served as a hopeful and celebratory send off, the crewmembers settled into their hibernation chambers and soon slipped into a sleep as near to death as possible though still alive. The first ship's custodian, an unmarried loner named Ned, boarded the ship last. He shook hands with some dignitaries, waved at a small crowd watching from a galley within the lunar space dock, and entered the ship. The airlock closed behind him, the anchors released the ship from the dock, and the ship's autopilot (controlled by the ship's unique supercomputer, named Noah by its wistful creators) eased the mammoth ARC out of the dock.

            The dignitaries had suggested that Ned head first to the bridge to get one last glimpse of home, considering he would likely never see it again. Ned did so, standing on the bridge as the ship eased away from the dock, pulled back from the Moon and afforded the custodian a last glorious view of his home world.

            The ship began the slow acceleration out of Earth's vicinity and Ned went about his inaugural duties. The space-time warp drives engaged, a stable wormhole opened up, and the ARC vanished from the solar system.