Noah's Brick

by Piers Anthony

  The poacher saw him coming and dodged to the side. Right into the path of the rhino. The rhino flexed its massive neck and gored the man dead center. It flung him to the side and ran on.

  Noah rode the bike up above the rhino. It ran under him and kept going. He spied Si standing to the side. “Oh, Noah!” she cried gladly.

  He dropped to the ground, jumped off the bike, and ran to her. He swept her into his arms. “Oh, Si!”

  Then he realized what he was doing. He quickly let go of her. “I'm sorry. I forgot.”

  “So did I,” she said. “You saved me. Do it again.”

  Carefully he hugged her again. She didn't flinch. Then he kissed her. She kissed him back.

  There was the sound of applause. The other children were here now and had seen everything, and knew the significance of their embrace.

  “That's why you need more training before you tackle another rhino,” Vet said, on a different wavelength. “That was foolhardy.”

  He was right. It had been a crazy and dangerous thing.

  “But we saved the rhino,” Si said.

  “You could have been killed,” Lyris said severely. “Both of you.”

  “Yes, mom,” they said almost together.

  Then everyone laughed. What else could they do? It had been a foolish, dangerous ploy that no sensible adult would have risked. They had almost paid a horrible price.

  But they knew they were on the way to saving the world, in their fashion. It was unlikely to be smooth and clean, but it would happen. Provided they were a good deal more careful than they had been.

  “We have to bury the poacher's body,” Rex said.

  “I know he deserved it,” Solita said. “But seeing him die was awful. I'll dream of it.”

  “We all will,” Beryl said. “But it could have been worse.”

  There was a general shudder of agreement.

  “We knew it when we signed,” Jay said grimly.

  ”We'll handle it,” Longo said. “You saw to the rhino. It's our turn.”

  “Let it lie,” Vet said. “This is unoccupied territory. No other humans will see it. Let the buzzards feast. That's nature in operation.” Indeed, the birds were already circling.

  “But what about the truck?” Gypsy asked.

  “That remains in the real world,” Lyris said. “The local authorities will eventually find it and realize what the poacher was up to, and that for once the rhino won. They'll confiscate the truck and nothing will be said.”

  “So we're home free,” Longo said. “And we've been blooded.”

  “Meanwhile, we'll organize tutoring,” Lyris said. “For all who want it, in all the subjects you need or want. We'll hire translators as necessary. Spread the word among the Arks. You are in business. You have a world to save. You just need to learn how.”

  “We'll save it,” Sven said, and the others agreed. They had indeed been blooded.

  Noah realized that he was still holding Si. Maybe that wasn't smart, considering. He started to relax his arms.

  “Don't you dare let go,” she told him. “Not yet.”

  And somehow that seemed as wonderful as saving the world.

  Author's Note

  It started as described, on Friday, October 24, 2014: I was using a standard three-hole brick to prop our tree farm gate closed for the night, and I thought suppose it were to have four holes on the other side? The more I thought about it, day by day, the more the story grew, until I simply had to write it. My story summary notes came to over 7,000 words. I finally started writing it November 23, and in three weeks I had the draft of the novella.

  Now that it's done, I realize that there's a whole lot more to cover. What about the invisible aliens who left the network of Arks and the Garden? Were they really as altruistic as it seems? Why should they care about the fate of Earth or any other planets with sapient species? Could they simply be farming planets for fresh meat, and not want to see them ruined when the animals misbehave? We really need to know the answer; our welfare may depend on it.

  And what about the children, as they grow into teens, and eventually adults? Yes, they will keep their Bricks and Beads and mindsets, becoming that rarity, open minded and responsible adults. But there may be other problems. Suppose political or business powers in the real world somehow catch on to the Ark Angels project, and seek to co-opt it for immediate profit? There's trillions to be made from the advanced alien technology, and who cares about stray animals? How will the children protect the Arks and Garden from the ruthless exploiters, the poachers who run the world, and stop them from undoing what the aliens have so carefully set up?

  So first I saw this as a short story of a boy finding a remarkable brick and maybe disappearing into a secret place, like the Pied Piper's children. But that didn't satisfy me, so it expanded, and finally became a 32,000 plus word novella. Now I fear it's just the first stage of a larger narrative, as there are too many loose ends remaining. Writing can be like that, taking the authors to places they never thought they'd go. It's as if the writer sets foot on an innocent little path, curious what's around the next turn, and winds up touring the world. It happens, and it's wonderful.

  But you know, the world really is in trouble. We have let the greed-heads who want nothing but profit today for themselves take over and steer the global ship toward hell. They may deserve the fate they are making for themselves, as the world passes the dread point of no return and spirals into oblivion. But the rest of us are on that ship too, locked down in steerage, and we'll suffer the same degradation and extinction they do. And it seems we can't do much about it.

  So I hope that open minded children somewhere are doing what the enlightened adults can't do, and making an Ark to salvage as much of the dying world as is feasible. It may take a decade, or a century, or a thousand years, but at least as the scorched earth cools and the pollution and radiation fade, there will be healthy stock to replenish it. To make a better world in the future.

  I will keep thinking about it, and it may be that I will just have to write a sequel, Ark Angels, that explores some of the options. We'll see. It probably can't be another juvenile novella; there are too many adult concerns to manage. This first one has been a challenge, because it quickly threatened to have too many characters for the average reader to track. It is best to keep the central cast of characters small. I limited it by showing only one member of the Euro Ark, and one of the Afro Ark, but obviously there are many others who should not be neglected. And what of the nature of those Bricks? This is not just advanced technology, it's a different science, alien in concept, more challenging than relativity or quantum theory, that to normal scientists smells of magic. There needs to be a better explanation than mere open mindedness.

  This novella was proofread by Scott M Ryan, who is I fear too old to join the Ark. (Unfortunately I believe I am too.) If you want to know more about me and my works, check my website at www.HiPiers.com, where I do a monthly blog-type column and maintain an ongoing survey of electronic publishers for the benefit of aspiring writers. I was once a child myself; I remember the isolation and the dreaming. My Ark was Creative Writing, where I could freely exercise my imagination, though I do suffer the slings and arrows of poachers, um, I mean critics who don't much like that sort of thing. Maybe that's your Ark too.