Charon's Ark

Charon's Ark Trilogy #1

by Rick Gauger

A planeload of high-school students, their teacher, and the airliner’s crew are hijacked in midair by an alien spacecraft. The aliens take them to their crazily-malfunctioning starship Ark, which we know as the planet Pluto and its moon Charon.

Sixty-five million years ago, the Ark came to Earth to collect plants and animals. It was ship-wrecked and stranded in our solar system. Now its alien crew intends to force the teenagers to learn to operate the Ark, so it can continue on its multi-billion year mission of sowing life among the stars.

The humans are flabbergasted of course, but life-change is not unwelcome to two of them. One is copilot Froward, whose drinking, womanizing, and general fecklessness are about to cost him his career.

The other is misfit student Charlie Freeman, a ‘casualty on the battlefield of puberty.’ He’s with the group only by the whim of his teacher, Mrs. Robinelli.

Aboard the plane are two other women who are about to be important in Froward’s life: Gershner, the stewardess, who is Froward’s lover, and sharp-thinking sixteen-year-old Chela Suarez.

Charlie is intrigued and puzzled by the aliens’ ineptitude. He is contacted by a sinister new entity: the Proctor. The Proctor offers Charlie knowledge, power, and prom queen Eva Wilcox, in return for helping the aliens obtain the students’ cooperation. Charlie, intending to subvert everything and return to Earth a hero, grabs the opportunity.

Can the hijacked students and adults overcome the dinosaur-infested wilderness of Charon, evade the murderous blundering aliens, and exploit the vast inexplicable Ark technology? Can they do it in time to save Earth from destruction by the monomaniacal Proctor?

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 12, 1987

Reviews

[Cynthia Nichols · Rating 1 out of 5]

This, about a dying teenage girl on a school field trip who is choking on her own vomit, describing some guy's unsuccessful attempt to provide CPR:
"The girl had a provocatively rounded figure but seemed very young in spite of it, or maybe because of it."
If you think you can enjoy writing like this, knock yourself out. I got to about page 40. Glad I paid only 20 cents at a thrift store.

[Wampuscat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit of history first: This is a retro-review. I read this book when it was on the shelf in 1987. It was MY FIRST SCIENCE FICTION BOOK! No kidding. It was also the first non-school novel I ever read. I remember picking it up at the Fred's Dollar Store in Winona, MS. I had to actually argue with my mother to let me get it because she though I wouldn't read all of it... HA! HA HA! That was the beginning of a very long and still ongoing love affair with books, especially science fiction stories. Other genres have mixed in over the years, but sci-fi is still my first love.

So, now to the review. Well, I read this book again several years ago, and it was not as great as I remembered, but nostalgia does funny things to a person's perspectives. I still like the book enough to give it four stars. The only reason I didn't give it five is because I realize that, as the seasoned reader that I have become, it is somewhat lacking the character department. My first reading as a teenager, a very nerdy teenager, caused me to empathize with Charlie overly much. My second reading, as an adult, made me realize that Charlie was a little asshole.. :) The problem is that he was written as one by an adult who may have forgotten what it was like to be an angst filled teen and overplayed the part too much. Anyway, the story itself is great. The concept of an Ark full of dinosaurs kept alive for the ages by a long dead race of alien preservationists is awesome. Keep in mind, this was written before Jurassic Park, but obviously long after Journey to the Center of the Earth. So throw in robots, space travel and dinosaurs and that's what I call a hit! It is fast paced, and the tech is still futuristic, even in 2015 as I write this review. I can recommend it anyone looking for a good fun read without looking for a literary masterpiece.

One final side note:
I have waited 28 years to read the sequel to this book! I just finished it, and will be reviewing it next. The first book stands alone, but the second is just as fun filled. Thank goodness for the advent of Indie Publishing!

[Sue Kapcoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just found this on the Internet and remember reading it long, long ago. This book is one of two or three that really opened my eyes to sci-fi, and now I really want to read it again.
December 28, 2010: So I just re-read this book and while the concepts were still pretty cool, the dialog and writing was…not so much. Oh well, I still enjoyed reading it again. It didn't end like I remembered. I thought some evolutionary thing happened, but maybe I've got it crossed with some other book or I dreamed it, which sometimes happens with an interesting book, you know.

[Grant Bierman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a book that took me a long time to read, while the general idea of the book was interesting; the characters and various scenes felt outdated and flat. Still I'll look into the other books of the series and see if they prove to be better.

[tarise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think James Cameron read this book.

[Britt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing is fast and readable, Lots of cool SF ideas here.