‘Just what do you think you’re doing?’ the first creature said.
The Crew looked at each other. None of them seemed to recognize what the creatures were.
‘Washing up?’ Tiger answered, wondering if it might be a trick question.
‘Wrong answer!’ the creature said, spitting a stream of water right in Tiger’s face.
‘W-why did you do that?’ Tiger spluttered.
‘In case you hadn’t noticed,’ the second creature said, slapping the water behind him with his wide, flat tail, ‘this is a pristine stream. Or at least it was before you characters decided to use it as your washbowl.’
‘What some pollute upstream, others downstream have to drink!’ snorted the first creature, flashing his teeth in the sun.
‘Sorry,’ said Tark. ‘We had no idea that—’
‘Ignorance is no excuse!’ the two creatures said at once.
‘You’re beavers, aren’t you?’ said Tiger, remembering a scene from David Rattenborough’s Life on Earth.
‘What else would we be?’ said the first one.
‘Beavers?’ said Tark, narrowing his eyes as if scrolling through some invisible database.
‘Yes, BEAVERS,’ the second one said. ‘I would have thought that would be obvious to a frog.’
‘Unless he was from another planet,’ chuckled the first beaver.
‘I am,’ said Tark.
‘You hear that, Martha?’ said the second beaver, joining the first in laughter. ‘Froggie thinks he’s out of this world!’
‘From which planet, exactly?’ said Martha.
‘Griffon,’ the Crew said at once.
‘Never heard of it,’ said the first beaver. ‘Have you, Martha?’
‘No, Ralph,’ said Martha. ‘I reckon they’re having us on.’
‘Having you on,’ said Ralph, slapping the water again. ‘I happen to subscribe to the waterproof edition of National Solargraphic. And I know every planet, sub-planet and moon in this solar system and most of the macro asteroids.’
‘I’m impressed,’ said Tark. ‘But Griffon isn’t in your solar system. As a matter of fact, it’s not even in the Milky Way.’
‘Right!’ said Ralph. ‘And this Griffon place has got frogs and cats and lizards and even camels on it?’
‘We are from Project Earth-mend,’ Wanda explained. ‘Tark’s the only ET among us.’
‘ET?’ said Ralph.
‘Extraterrestrial, dear,’ said Martha, slapping the water with her tail, as if she’d scored a point.
‘I’m from Missouri, froggie,’ said Ralph. ‘Prove it!’
Tark quickly shape-shifted into Elvis in a diamond-studded jumpsuit that glistened so brightly in the sun that the beavers had to squint.
‘Ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog...’ Tark sang, twanging a guitar that no one could see.
‘Ooh,’ cooed Martha, pulling herself out of the water and rubbing up against Elvis’ leg. ‘That’s so cool, daddy-o!’
Ralph sauntered out of the water, too, and gave his fur a good shake, scattering water everywhere but as much as possible on Elvis. ‘That’s beside the point. Pollution is still pollution, and if you’re from this Project Earth-mend mob then you should be ashamed!’
‘Thank you very much,’ said Elvis, but then he shook his head. ‘Apologies... from the bottom of my heart!’
‘That’s OK,’ breathed Martha, going all dreamy-eyed. ‘We forgive you! Don’t we, Ralph?’
‘Oh, well,’ said Ralph. ‘I suppose there’s no permanent damage done. But if you’re concerned about the Earth, you need to look after the water, too.’
‘Absolutely,’ said Wanda.
‘I’ll second the motion,’ said Number 12. ‘I only need a drink once a week, but when I have one, I want it to be clean!’
Tark returned to being Tark again, much to Martha’s disappointment but Ralph’s great relief.
‘Speaking of mending the Earth,’ Ralph said, ‘maybe you’d like to see what we’re up to.’
‘You’ve been busy beavers, then?’ chuckled Syd.
Ralph grimaced. ‘Don’t suppose you could lose the crow,’ he said. ‘If I hear that worn out phrase once more, I’ll spit some splinters!’
‘Ignore Syd,’ urged Wanda. ‘We’ve been trying to lose him for ages. No such luck!’
Tiger thought the walk along the creek was a piece of cake, compared to tripping over cockroaches in the muck of the cave. Wanda had an even easier time of it, perched on Martha’s back as she floated upstream. Ralph offered to give Tark a ride, too, but Tark preferred to hop from boulder to boulder, or even go for a quick swim between boulders.
The water was fairly shallow, and Tiger could see the occasional flash of fish scale just beneath the surface. It made him think of another clip in the David Rattenborough series in which grizzly bears stood waist deep in a pool waiting to swat salmon as they tried to leap tail first up and over a waterfall.
Fresh fish would be nice, he thought, but he wasn’t too keen on getting into the water, and besides, the beavers might not approve, so he simply licked his lips wishfully, finally deciding that Salmon Pate would have to do for dinner tonight.
The further they went, the deeper and wider the creek became. Tark gave up his boulder jumping to hop aboard Ralph, soon after turning to lie on his back to enjoy the morning sun.
‘Don’t suppose we could borrow a raft,’ Number 12 said, doing his best not to slip into the water. ‘This undergrowth is quickly becoming overgrowth!’
‘Can you swim?’ Tiger asked. ‘Or maybe you could just pretend you’re a raft and float with the breeze.’
‘I don’t think so,’ said Number 12, stumbling again. ‘My legs are too long for me to float right side up, and legs up would make me look like a boat that had misplaced its sails.’
Then Tiger could hear something up ahead. ‘Never mind,’ he said. ‘I think we’re nearly there!’
It was true. Around the next bend was a half circle of huge beaver dams with dozens of beavers... beavering away. In pairs, some were floating aspen branches from the banks to the dams. Others were tossing big globs of mud to each other along the tops of the dams and then over the edges, but to where, Tiger couldn’t see.
‘Quite an operation,’ Number 12 said, working his way toward the first dam. ‘But when it rains, I’ll bet this pond floods big time!’
‘It used to,’ said Martha. ‘Until Ralph decided to take the path less travelled.’
‘Which path?’ Tiger said, glancing around.
‘It’s a poem,’ said Martha. ‘Don’t you know Robert Frost?’
Tiger scratched his head. ‘I know a Jack Frost. He paints Alexander’s windows in winter sometimes.’
‘Yes!’ cried Wanda, hopping onto the closest dam. ‘His “Mending Wall” is one of my favorites. I’ve got his Selected back in the drain pipe.’
‘And just where did you get a book of poems?’ Syd demanded. ‘Not from Alexander’s library, I hope.’
‘Mea culpa,’ said Wanda, head down.
‘Is that a new Italian snail recipe?’ asked Tiger.
Wanda cleared her throat. ‘Well, the color of the book matches my scales, and it was all dusty up there on his bookshelf, so I thought he wouldn’t mind if I borrowed it.’ She sighed. ‘I get tired of non-stop YouTube trailers, and I can’t afford an iTunes account.’
‘I’m sure that will be fine,’ said Tiger. ‘I read a few pages when I’m perched on the back of Alexander’s chair, and I’d read more if I didn’t fall asleep so quickly!’
‘Anyway...’ said Tark, getting a bit impatient. ‘You were saying, about the flooding?’
By now, with the exception of Number 12, who was tall enough to see over the edge without getting his feet wet, they were all standing on the beaver dams, looking over at the works below. There was an amazing array of ponds, at least a dozen or more, fed by the artificial waterfall.
‘One stream, one dam is so yesterday,’ explained Ralph. �
��Like you said, every time a thunderstorm passed through, there’d be the flood, and we’d have a mess to clean up afterwards – sometimes for days.’
‘He gets really grumpy when he misses his daily yoga routine,’ Martha explained.
‘OK,’ said Tark. ‘So you release more water than usual between the dams. Then what?’
‘We feed it into a series of holding ponds, each one deeper than the previous ones,’ said Ralph, ‘and each of them well shaded by trees to cut down on evaporation.’
‘What if you run out of water up here?’ said Number 12. ‘How do you get the water back?’
‘Stroke of sheer genius,’ said Ralph. ‘Check this out.’
On the far side of the upper pond was a huge waterwheel, with carved out wooden plates for gathering the water from the closest pond. Alongside the spokes of the wheel were steps just wide enough for young beavers to jump onto to get the wheel moving. Tiger could see that the young ones were having a great time.
‘When we don’t need the water, we just let it spill back over the falls,’ said Martha.
‘What’s going on over there?’ Tiger asked, pointing at a few beavers in white coats gathered around a ring of boulders.
‘Top secret,’ whispered Ralph.
‘Oh, come on,’ urged Tark. ‘We’re all friends here. Out with it!’
Ralph hesitated then motioned for them to follow him over. The gaps between the rocks were waterproofed by a mixture of branches and mud, and there was a strange smell coming from the gooey green slime inside.
‘It’s early days yet,’ explained Ralph. ‘But we have the brightest minds of Beaverdom at work on this biofuel plant. Once we get the right mixture of sunshine, sap, peat and crushed leaves, the plant will work on autopilot, producing enough energy to turn the wheel, and then some. Next step will be to invent a way to store any extra energy for cloudy days.’
Tark smiled. ‘I think I might be able to help you with that.’
Ralph put up a paw. ‘No, thanks. I’m sure you’re light years ahead of us on Griffon, but we beavers are proud creatures. What we do is ours, and when we do it by ourselves, we remember how to do it next time, and then we don’t owe anyone a thing.’
Tark nodded. ‘Very commendable. But what I can give you will come with no strings attached – a gift from the inhabitants of Griffon.’
‘Come on, Ralph,’ urged Martha. ‘Hear El— I mean, Tark, out. Please?’
Ralph seemed to go into a huddle with himself about it. ‘No harm in listening, I suppose.’
‘Let me show you,’ said Tark. ‘You can always say no.’
With a gesture of his magic toe, a shiny, thin layer of something like tin foil materialized, floated down, and glued itself to the top of the enclosure. Just as quickly the metallic color dissolved, leaving the coating clear.
‘Looks pretty fragile,’ Martha said.
‘You’re looking at xephonolite,’ Tark said proudly. ‘It has a tensile strength a thousand times that of any metal found on Earth, yet its molecules can replicate instantly to stretch to whatever dimensions are required. It can be clear enough to absorb and trap solar radiation or mirror harmful rays. It will speed up the oxidation of your plant materials through solar acceleration and yet retain 99.8% of the energy created.’
‘I told you,’ said Ralph. ‘I’m from Missouri. Prove it!’
Tark shrugged, pointed his toe at a nearby tree and shot a laser beam at it, slicing through it like sand. The tree fell directly on the xephonolite cover and bounced up straight into the air. Another laser beam lined the underneath of the tree, allowing Tark to guide it over their heads where it thudded gently onto the pile of logs the beavers had already stockpiled.
‘Nary a scratch!’ Syd, fluttering above the cover, reported. ‘I’ll bet this could double as a trampoline.’ He dive-bombed the cover and did a triple somersault. ‘Whee!’
The young beavers caught on and soon were bouncing along with Syd.
‘Amazing!’ said Ralph. ‘Especially that laser saw of yours. Can you leave that behind with an instruction manual?’
‘Sorry,’ said Tark, lifting his toe. ‘It comes as standard equipment, but first you have to be a Griff and have your inter-stellar badge.’
Ralph shrugged. ‘We probably couldn’t afford it anyway.’ He let his teeth glint in the sun. ‘The Old Ways are sometimes the best, anyway!’
Tiger held up a paw at that point. ‘I’ve been thinking,’ he said.
‘Go on,’ said Wanda. ‘Don’t keep us in suspense!’
‘Well,’ said Tiger. ‘You beavers are experts with water, right?’
‘Yep,’ said Martha. ‘Water is certainly Us!’
‘OK,’ Tiger went on. ‘With global warming, we’ll have more storms dumping all this rain in some places, while other places have a Big Dry, right?’
‘That’s what the scientists say,’ said Wanda.
‘So some places have more than enough water while others never seem to get enough?’
‘The deserts are expanding,’ nodded Number 12. ‘No worries if you’re a camel, but not so great for pelicans!’
‘Think of all the water that goes down the drain during a storm,’ said Tiger. ‘If we could send it off to the dry areas rather than out to sea—’
‘Good idea,’ said Wanda. ‘Especially since sea levels are rising. But how would we get the water there? Pipelines cost money!’
‘Hmm,’ said Ralph. ‘There might be a better way...’
‘A beaver pond in every backyard?’ said Syd.
‘No room,’ said Wanda. ‘After the pool and the barbecue area, there’s not much space left over.’
‘Let the beaver speak,’ said Tark. ‘What do you have in mind, Ralph?’
‘A rain garden!’ said Ralph. ‘We know lots of humans already have water tanks to collect the rain, and that’s great, but they could do more. In places where it rains a lot, the water just spills down the drain when the tank overflows. That just sends water off to the oceans.’
‘Instead of down to the water table,’ said Number 12.
‘What’s a water table?’ asked Tiger, trying to picture something liquid but with legs.
Number 12 wasn’t often an expert, but on this subject he was.
‘Even if you’re in the middle of the desert,’ he said, ‘so long as you know where to paw, you can find water. It’s there waiting for you at the upper end of the water table.’
Tiger shook his head. ‘Why don’t they call it a well or a bucket, then?’
Number 12 smiled. ‘Because it’s not a well or a bucket, that’s why!’
‘Rain garden,’ murmured Wanda. ‘Sounds like mangoes and pineapples. Very tropical!’
‘It’s all about recycling,’ said Ralph. ‘You can make one anywhere there’s a water tank and a backyard. Overflows from your water tank are channeled into a garden bed where plants, gravel and sand filter it before letting it seep down into the water table. If the land goes dry, the humans can pipe the water from the water table up to their reservoirs.’
‘I get it,’ said Wanda. ‘If every household uses an overflow on their gardens, that’s less water they need to draw from the reservoirs in the first place.’
‘Exactly,’ said Ralph, winking at Tark. ‘Not to mention a terrific place for frogs to call home!’
‘What about storm water?’ asked Tiger. ‘There’s heaps of that after a big rain.’
Wanda wrinkled her nose. ‘Wouldn’t catch me drinking out of the gutter,’ she said. ‘Think of all the oil and grime that washes off the streets!’
‘We’ve done the research,’ said Ralph. ‘Just think of a storm water torrent as just another kind of stream, like we have here. The trick is to let the water know who’s in charge and where it has to go. This can be to underground collection tanks, above ground reservoirs or even wetlands in need of an extra drink now and then.’
‘STAY, water!’ Syd commanded in mid-air. ‘Now, roll over – surf’s up!’
>
‘Don’t mind the crow,’ Wanda told the beavers. ‘He dreams of becoming a Big Kahuna.’
‘This is good,’ Tark said. ‘If we can get the President and Madonna onside, we could halt the rise in sea levels. And, if we can do that, I’d have something real to take back to Inter-Galactic Command to convince them that humanity’s on the right track.’
‘What about Mick?’ asked Tiger. ‘Would that be enough to convince him to hold fire?’
Tark thought about it. ‘Probably not. You see, his planet never had any water, so the Abells would just be jealous. They think that if you can’t fight it, or at least stare it down, it’s not worth bothering about.’
‘And it’ll take years to make any difference,’ Number 12 sighed. ‘We don’t have that long, do we?’
‘Excuse me,’ said Ralph. ‘Abells? Another planet?’
Tark painted the big picture for them.
‘Wow,’ said Martha, rolling back her eyes. ‘These ETs are everywhere! But can this Mick character cut down and stack a tree as neatly as you, Tark?’
‘I don’t think so,’ said Tark. ‘He’d probably just as soon blow it to smithereens as look at it. Abell 2218s really don’t like living beings. I guess that comes with being a robot and virtually indestructible.’
The young beavers stopped bouncing on the tank cover. ‘Robots?’ one of them cried. ‘Oh, can we have one, please?’
‘They’re not very cuddly,’ said Number 12. ‘I’d stick with your Ninjas, if I were you.’
The young ones looked a bit disappointed but went back to their bouncing.
‘So what can we do about this Great Danger?’ Martha asked. ‘There’s not much point in setting up rain gardens if the Earth is just going to be incinerated next week.’
‘Never say die!’ Tark said. ‘Inter-Galactic Command wouldn’t have sent us here if they didn’t think Earth was worth saving.’
It was the perfect time for Tiger to suggest that the beavers sign up for Project Earth-mend.
‘If those lazy bats have joined up,’ Ralph said, ‘then of course we must do it as well. Would you like me to talk to the otters?’
‘Otters?’ Tark said.
‘They think they’re pretty special,’ said Martha. ‘But they’re really just overgrown rats with a flair for water sports.’
Tiger Takes the Big Apple Page 7