Chapter Sixteen: Every Living Thing

Chapter Sixteen: Every Living Thing

The Wildlife Center was the crossover point between civilization and the wild. The line between nature and city was blurry now, and some believed there would come a day when there was no difference. So many places where people lived also had animals roaming free, and neatly tended gardens; though the animals kept away from the more populated areas; simply because they were in the way a lot of the time. Roadkill was a thing of the past.

But there were still plenty of wild places in the world, and the Wildlife Center was the best place to stop and rest up on the way to many of them.

The Center was attractive, as all buildings were now, but the area around it wasn’t in any way park-like or tended. There was a road, and a parking area.

“More crowded than I thought it would be.” Megan noted. “Was it this busy last time?”

“Yes, but you were smaller then.” Hugh teased. “People go toward the wilds for study, for camping, for wildlife… Plenty of animals are being bred and released back into nature as part of the restoration work. Someone has a less… conventional pet, like a hawk or a bobcat, the animal reaches the right age to have a mate; you need to track one down.”

“To say nothing of restoring a forest, or collecting lumber.” Megan agreed, seeing some of the larger vehicles.

“Or any natural resource.” Hugh agreed. “Plenty of people lived off the woods directly; and haven’t quite changed their thinking yet. Anyway, we’ll take a break here, rest for a while… Maybe spend the night, strike out in the morning.”

“You sure? This is going to be longer than a weekend trip, we can always find a campsite at the edge of the deep woods.”

“True.” Hugh wasn’t worried. “We’ll figure it out.”

~~/*\~~

There were a few people staying at the Center overnight, some of them on their way to the forest, some on their way back.

Megan found a spot where she could play her guitar, and a few people smiled at her. Music was everywhere in the world, one of the things that most people wanted to know, or at least try. Megan had been playing for a century; and was as good as any OS professional, which still made her an amateur by the world’s current standard.

But she knew a few dozen songs that had become popular over the years, and a few dozen more that had been popular with people from various centuries; and as everyone drew closer to perfection, people were losing their fear of being bad singers. Like any other skill, it took practice.

Megan received a warm round of applause when she was finished, and a man with bright red hair came over to sit with her. “That guitar is fascinating. I thought I knew every brand that survived A-Day, but I don’t recognize yours.”

Megan smiled secretly. “You’d be surprised.” She chuckled. “You a performer?”

“I have worked with a few musicians when they came back. You can always tell the professional ones; because the first thing they ask about is music and instruments.”

“So Wolfgang said.” Megan grinned.

He took a seat across from her at the window and held out a hand. “Aiden.”

Irish heritage. Megan thought and returned the handshake. “Megan.”

“Unca Aidey!” A young boy came tiptoeing up to them both, with a large cardboard box in his hands. “The pandas are asleep.”

“Ah, finally.” Aiden set the box down carefully, and hoisted the boy up beside him. “This is my nephew, Jamie. He’s helping me find new homes for some friends.” He gestured at the box. “Wanna see?”

Megan looked. In the box were two soft cuddly creatures that Megan had only seen in her mother’s pictures. They both had bright red fur, fluffy tails and cute little faces. Their paws were large and they were curled into each other tightly, asleep. “Did you call them Pandas?”

“Red Panda’s.” Aiden explained. “Most people called them ‘firefoxes’. They come from the China Region.”

The boy smiled at her. “They liked the git’ar.”

Aiden ruffled the boy’s hair. “You did a good job. Go get yourself some hot chocolate.”

The boy scampered off and Aiden turned his gaze back to Megan. “Now, did I hear you just drop a name like ‘Wolfgang’?”

Megan chuckled. “I was there for the first showing of The Denouement.”

“Lucky! I saw it six months ago. It was the best thing I’ve ever heard without being at a Centennial.” Aiden gave her a warm look, just a little inviting. “Of course, I have a soft spot for female soloists. Especially the beautiful ones.”

Megan flushed a bit, but didn’t show it. She looked over his eyes. He was young. Full grown, but easily her age or less. “So, where were you?”

“Actually, I was-”

Megan jumped. “Spider!” She warned him. A nice big hairy one had come in the window beside him and was crawling along the wall towards Aiden’s red hair.

Aiden looked over his shoulder, not even blinking. “Hey there.” He said sweetly to the large arachnid. “Now, you shouldn’t be in here.” He crooned, and held out a hand. The spider stroked his front legs across the man’s fingertips before crawling into his hand, and up his arm.

Megan felt her skin crawl, but Aiden wasn’t a bit concerned. “Jamie, come take over here, would you?”

The boy scampered back up to them and carefully plucked the spider off his uncle’s shoulder. He turned his hands back and forth as the spider crawled over his fingers.

“You… aren’t back recently.” Megan wavered. “Your eyes say less than a century, but if you lived in OS all that time you’d be…” Her eyes flicked to the arachnid. “...so freaking out right now, even after this long…”

“Born recently.” Aiden shook his head. “I wasn’t in OS. At least, not that I remember. I’m told I died after a few days; came back just under thirty years ago.” He gestured at the boy with the spider. The kid was playing with the arachnid the way another would with a kitten. “Jamie there was born to this world.”

Megan swallowed. I’m three times his age. He’s flirting with me and I’m three times his age.

Aiden noticed her eyes still locked on the spider and turned to his nephew. “Jamie, take the little guy outside and put him somewhere safe. He’s liable to get stepped on if he stays indoors too long.”

Jamie obeyed, and Megan found her voice again. “So. Ireland, to China, to New York State in just thirty years, huh?”

Aiden shrugged. “Joined the restoration work. I was sent to Asia to help with some endangered species. I was allotted a piece of land where I was able to make a small preserve for the firefoxes. Now that they’re no longer on the ‘endangered’ list; I’m being given some time off until I can join work on helping another habitat in need.”

“And you’re spending it here?”

Aiden smirked. “Well, I hear that when people are looking for animals to love, they come to a place like this.” He gestured at the box. “These two are the last of the litter that need a good home. They’re about ten months old each.”

Megan withdrew a bit. “Average lifespan?”

“In some places in OS, about 14 years. These days, domestically, a good twenty two years.” Aiden told her. “If I was charging money, it’d still be a pretty good deal.”

Megan rose and slung her guitar. “I bet.” Twenty two year lifespan. For him, that’s more than half his life. Poor thing has no idea. “Well, nice talking to you, Aiden; but my dad and I are heading the opposite direction to home right now, and we’re burning daylight.”

~~/*\~~

Kasumi shared a room. She imagined that most of the crew did. There was a small fruit basket on her bed, with a note:

Hi, I’m Karen. I work a different shift to you, so I’ll probably be coming in just after you start your day, but it’s still nice to meet you.

Kasumi smiled a bit a looked around. Her bed was a single, but it was very comfortable. The room was decorated tastefully, with a certain artistic flair, as was the rest of the ship; and in fact most everything built over the last century. The new style of construction was to add beauty to function, so anything people made was practical, but also a work of art. Nick may have been in charge of designing her systems, but the Nemo’s interiors were artistic, as if grown from the ocean itself. Kasumi almost felt like a mermaid. The windows were a lot bigger than any submarine that ever came before, and while the water was deep and dark, the windows had an overlay that made everything clearly visible, from the shape of the terrain to the animals swimming past.

Kasumi had never been on a submarine from OS, but she knew they weren’t pretty back then. It took only a few minutes to unpack. She was seven hours off her usual timezone, and had time for a nap before starting her shift. She lay down, and slid a hand over, where she felt the edge of the single bed drop away.

Kasumi felt a pang. It was the first time in centuries that she'd slept in a single bed.

He wanted you to do this. She reminded herself. He wanted you to chase something that you felt strongly about, and he didn’t even blink when he realized it meant he would have to sacrifice time with you. He did it for you, because he knew you’d regret not going more than you’d miss them while you went.

Kasumi suddenly realized just how right he was. One day working with the dolphins, seeing all the impossible things of a world she barely knew existed… She had no idea how thrilling it was to be part of it until she’d arrived.

Jehovah God, thank you for giving Hugh enough insight to know these things about me better than I do. Take care of him while I’m away. And Megan too. Thank you for the love and support of my family.

~~/*\~~

Hugh stopped their borrowed vehicle at the edge of the Catskill Mountain Forests, and he and his daughter pulled a tarp over it. “It’ll still be here in a week, but there’s no reason to leave it to the weather, given that it’s a rental, right?”

“Right.”

They walked for the better part of a day. Nobody was in much of a rush any longer, but they were in excellent shape, so even a measured march was faster than most hikers could have done in OS.

They paused a few times, to take in a view, or have a snack. Megan had learned a few things from Chogan; and was quick to share them. “The bulbs from Dogtooth violets are supposed to be pretty tasty. Plus, there are poplar trees, and the inner bark is meant to taste like flour.”

“If we’re planning to grind our own flour, you’d get a better flavor from acorns.” Hugh told her. “There are some trees up ahead, or at least there were; but why you’d grind stones together so long when we’ve brought provisions of our own is beyond me.”

~~/*\~~

“I forgot how… wild it is.” Megan said in approval after a while. “So much of what we live with, no matter where we live in the world, it’s just so… tended. The whole world is like a garden. But out here, without people…”

“Without people.” Hugh sighed, soft as a psalm.

Megan sank into herself a bit, thinking the same thing. “Twenty thousand a day.” She said quietly. “If we don’t plan to go back to big cities, the way it was when we were young… What does that mean for this place? For places without people? What if Nick’s right and there’s just no room for us all?”

“Well, first of all, we don’t all take up the same amount of room. The Dorms can hold hundreds of people in-”

“No, not all humans, I mean everything!” Megan countered. “We also have to make room for extinct animals, endangered species filling up again... “

“Well, that’s the point of harmony, sweetie.” Hugh countered. “Time was, nature and humans lived apart from each other. Where there were people, you wouldn’t find growing things, or animals wandering around… Now those boundaries are gone. Human civilization and nature don’t just overlap, they co-habitate. Also, bear in mind that we’re managing the land entirely differently than the way we used to. Land assignments-”

“Are going to start another war.” Megan countered quickly.

Hugh said nothing for a minute. “Yeah. Probably true.” He said quietly. “Except we both know that’s not an option now.” He pointed down the hillside to the river. “Remember that place?”

“Our old campsite.” Megan nodded. “From when I was little.”

“Same place my father took me when I was that age.” Hugh told her. “Was a lot harder slog than when I first took you, but that was the place my dad took me camping.”

~~/*\~~

They set up camp by the river. They didn’t carry a whole lot of camping supplies, the way campers did in the old days. The weather had stabilized, and humans were far better at predicting it now than they had ever been. They made a shelter instead of bringing a tent along. They made a fire, instead of carrying along a stove in their packs.

Hugh strung a line from a nearby tree to help hold up their shelter, and ran a hand over the smooth bark for a moment with a smile.

“What is it?” Megan asked.

“Notice anything about this tree?”

She looked. “It’s a redwood.” She blinked and looked around. “In fact, it’s the only redwood here.”

Hugh felt along the tree for a while, and peeled back a layer of the bark. Megan let out a cough of laughter when she saw her father’s initials carved into the tree. “When did you put that there?”

“Believe it or not, I planted this tree, back in the 1920’s.” Hugh chuckled. “The place looked a lot different back then. I was… nine, I think. My family went on a vacation to Sequoia National Park, and I picked up a seed from a redwood tree. I played around with the idea of taking it home, planting it somewhere close to the apartment. I was young, and had ideas of treehouses up higher than the brownstone I lived in. I was young enough not to think that it would take hundreds of years… So I planted it here instead, on the next family trip. I am frankly amazed that the seed had survived that long.” He let out a low whistle. “In ‘33, when everyone knew there’d be another war, my dad asked me to go camping with him again. I wasn’t a kid any more, but… He had fought in the Great War to End All Wars, and he knew I was of age for the next one. We came out here, and I found that this tree I had planted, just for kicks, barely a sapling by their standards; but it had survived.”

“How?”

Hugh pointed to the river. “Well, that river used to flow around the other side of the hill, and there were some big boulders here. We camped behind them to stay out of the wind.” He smiled. “It’s six hundred years later now, and the bolder got moved by the growing roots, and the river changed course from storms and landslips, but… But that tree is still there.”

“When did you carve your initials into it?”

“A few years before we got you. Over a century by now…” He shook his head. “Back in OS, I was amazed at how fast the years seemed to flash by. It happens faster now, but nobody’s in a rush. It’s like time sped up but everything’s moving slower.”

“Except these trees don’t rush or slow down?” Megan guessed the lesson.

Hugh chuckled. “Fact of being a parent is that you tend to turn every conversation with your kids into an important life lesson.”

Megan chuckled. “Lookit!”

Hugh turned, and saw a fish jump out of the river before splashing back under. A moment later, there were two more doing the same.

“I don’t recognize the species. Must be a returned one.” Megan commented. “Want to try and catch one? We take a picture, put the fish back… See if anyone else has recorded the species yet.”

“I miss fishing.” Hugh admitted. “We don’t hunt any more, and fishing comes under that heading. To be honest, I miss it. It was something I had with my dad.”

Megan nodded. “I know. Grandpa told me.”

Hugh didn’t say anything at first, but inwardly he smiled. Megan had finally taken to calling his parents ‘Grandma’ and ‘Grandpa’ a few years earlier. Megan’s prayer had been answered in full.

“I didn’t do much hunting, back in the day. Smackin’ spiders and rats doesn’t count.” Megan told him. “Foraging? I did plenty of that.” She strode over and went to a clump of roots. She dug around for a minute, and came back with some tubers, and some wild garlic. “Fries?”

“I’ll start the fire.” Hugh grinned. They had brought food with them, but hadn’t eaten any of it yet.

~~/*\~~

Kasumi’s workspace was purely functional, near the moon pool. Aquatic life was all around in large aquariums, with various studies being performed. The Nemo had several access points to the water that opened and closed on command. Kasumi had seen several teams going out to collect junk and wreckage, with the Reclaimers running day and night.

The activity had the dolphins attention, and Kasumi was working on her own project. So far, the wild pods of dolphins had been following the work teams on their own, interested in what the silly humans were doing so deep, and once they had figured out that they could come to the Nemo to breathe, they didn’t even bother going back to the surface. One or two of them had decided to stay at the submarine, and Kasumi was teaching them to identify fish species from pictures.

“These talented creatures are actually careful enough to bring us live specimens.” Kasumi told Rachel. “Just pick the fish you want and show my dolphins a picture.”

Rachel found that hilarious. “The clean-up is going pretty well, but it’d be a lot faster if we could train a dolphin or a whale to retrieve dropped tools and haul heavy things for us.” She suggested. “There was a program back in OS to get some of the smarter ocean species to retrieve torpedoes and dangerous materials from the sea floor for the military.”

“Speaking of that, you know we’re bound to run into a sunk warship at some point.” Kasumi reminded her. “Not everything we stumble onto across the sea floor is going to be safe to haul up.”

“Ohh, don’t worry; we have that sorted. Anything that’s still dangerous after half a millennium underwater we can detect in advance. The older ships are way more interesting.” Rachel smirked. “After lunch, I’ll show you the treasure room.”

~~/*\~~

“Wow.” Kasumi breathed. The Treasure Room of the Nemo was full of old treasure chests. Hundreds of gold coins, bejeweled artifacts, silverware and precious stones.

“On the Nemo’s Shakedown Voyage, we took a lap around the shallows.” Rachel said quietly. “We found some sunken cargo ships. Coral grew over them, fish lived there now, but we had to test the equipment, so some of the crew went exploring. They were treasure ships, lost in storms.”

Kasumi ran her fingers through the stacks of gold coins; shaking her head with jaded awe. “The only piece of jewelry I really care about is my wedding ring. Isobel’s mother made it for Hugh as a gift when he traveled with them a while…” She looked over at Rachel. “We can go months without having to spend money on things beyond household sundries.”

Rachel nodded. The room was so full of treasure that the reflected light shone off her face in golden hue. “There is some debate about whether or not to bring it back for a museum or something. We’ve probably got the original crews back out there, plus the pirate crews that sank them...” She shook her head ruefully. “Wars were fought over this stuff.”

Kasumi closed the treasure chest. “And here we are, debating if it's worth hauling back.”

“You want a cut?” Rachel asked. “The Charter says that anything of monetary value is divided equally among the crew. We may not use gold coins any more, but there's still plenty of historical and cultural relics in here.”

~~/*\~~

During their second week in the woods, Megan woke up sharply. “Did you hear that?”

“Just a possum or something.” Hugh mumbled. “Go back to sleep.”

“Dad, wake up. That wasn’t a possum.” She was spooked.

Hugh sighed and sat up, unzipping the tent to look. “Now what the heck are you?”

Megan crawled out of her seeping back and came over to look. It was a slender lizard, perched on hind legs. Its front legs were picking up the shells from the nuts they been eating. It trilled a bit when it saw them, and scampered off into the bushes.

“What was that?” Megan whispered.

“Nothing I recognize.” Hugh murmured. “Go back to sleep, sweetie. There’s no such thing as dangerous critters any more.”

“I know.” Megan mumbled, but he could tell she was still unnerved. “I don’t like animals I don’t recognize.”

Hugh chuckled. “Kasumi told me what you said to Chogan about the old literature from OS.”

“The bit about people with pet tigers in those drawings? A lot more than I see in real life.”

Hugh nodded. “They’re all tame now, but even so… A tiger needs a fair amount of room. More than most people have. Even a tame animal wanders around in traffic, on footpaths… I don't know how much you remember, but… It’s not like it was back then. Our cities are designed to have nature be part of it now. Full of growing things, full of natural light and trees and animals. Most critters are smart enough to know that if they stay off the streets they’re safer, and if they stay to the parks, then plenty of people will come to feed them and adore them.”

“Mm.” Megan yawned. “Well, it takes all kinds. Even ‘pet’ people.”

Hugh didn’t push. She’d get there eventually; even if it took another thousand years.

~~/*\~~

When they woke up, Hugh and Kasumi found small footprints around their campsite.

“I want to follow them.” Megan said. “I want to know what it was.”

Hugh agreed, and they followed the tracks. They didn’t find the little lizard. They found something a lot more interesting. The little tri-foot tracks were suddenly covered over by much, much bigger ones.

“You’ve been camping more often than I have.” Megan said quietly. “What kind of 'critter' leaves that sort of track?”

Hugh stared blankly at the footprints for a while. “I… I have an idea, but I don’t want to say yet.”

Megan looked at him sideways, but didn’t comment on it. She'd had the same idea. They kept following, deeper into the trees. The ground cover got thicker, with branches and bushes growing thick in their path. It was clear that something large had gone through the area and broken plenty of bushes and branches, but plenty had fallen behind it, covering the tracks a bit.

“Want to keep going?” Hugh asked when the trail became completely obscured.

“Nah, guess not.” Megan sighed. “I actually wanted to head to the river. I told you Chogan was a Cree Tribe tracker? He told me about how they used to burn out logs to make canoes. If we’re going to see how long we can live off the woods…”

“You want to make a canoe?”

“I’ve never done it before.” She smiled impishly.

“As my favorite daughter commands.” Hugh bowed elaborately, and they turned to go back to the river. “Let’s see if we can make a boat.”

~~/*\~~

Kasumi was making progress. The two dolphins that stayed voluntarily had now increased to five, and they were quickly learning how to get the humans to feed them. The dolphins were following simple instructions, and Kasumi was recording their reactions. Dolphin sounds were mostly beyond the range of human ears, but the Submarine’s equipment could hear everything, and Kasumi was discovering patterns, more and more complex with every trick the dolphins performed for her.

“It bothers me a little that we judge the intelligence of these wonderful, beautiful, joyful creatures by how willing they are to obey my commands.” Kasumi said lightly to nobody in particular.

“Don’t we measure the intelligence of our kids the same way?” A young woman quipped.

Kasumi froze and turned to face her. “Now there’s a thought that’s going to bother me.”

The woman chuckled and held out a hand. “Karen. I’m your roommate. I work the night shift. Some ocean creatures at this depth are nocturnal.”

“Glad to meet you at last. Thanks for the fruit basket.”

“Grown from our areofarms.” Karen grinned. “How goes the work on your end?”

“Well, I’ve been able to establish that three of these dolphins followed us from closer to the mainland.” Kasumi reported. “A distance of over five hundred miles. The Nemo moves faster than these dolphins do at cruising speed, so the dolphins must have tracked us some other way.”

“Think they can talk to other pods?”

“Hard to tell, but I think so.” Kasumi shook her head. “There’s never been a real study of wild dolphin pods; because they’re hard to track; but according to the literature, each individual dolphin has its own ‘signature whistle’. Developed in the first year of life, dolphins use these whistles as badges of identity, and may modulate them to reflect motivation and mood. When they meet in the wild, one dolphin from each pod exchanges ‘names’.”

“They can introduce themselves?”

Kasumi nodded. “I’ve been able to figure out ‘names’ for each of the dolphins that follow around the Nemo. I listen for it when they meet in the wild, so I can put a census together.”

Karen was rapt. “You think we can figure out a way to actually talk to dolphins?”

“We’ve been doing that since OS, with hand signals and such. Dolphins have been able to figure out a hundred words of our language, and we haven’t been able to crack one word of theirs. Part of me wonders if they’re doing their own experiments on us.”

Karen chuckled. “I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.”

Kasumi noticed a strange pendant hanging from Karen’s neck. It looked like a tapered point, with the edges sanded down. “What’s that?”

“This is the tip off a harpoon.” Karen took off the pendant and handed it to her for inspection. “In 2007, a bowhead whale was found with the end of a harpoon sticking into his neck. The harpoon was manufactured in 1890. The whale had spent a century swimming around the ocean with this little relic of humanity in its neck. The thing passed through a dozen hands until it came to my dad. When he found out I was on the mission, he gave it to me.” Karen gestured around at the walls. “The Nemo was designed by the Expo, but it was constructed by people who mostly worked on Naval yards. We did it: We beat the sword into a plowshare! This is the single most efficient, most versatile, most advanced craft that human hands have ever built, and it’s not even been suggested that it carry a single weapon, or for that matter, a fishnet.”

“Amen to that.” Kasumi said, pleased. She looked around the laboratory. “Y’know, there are more women on board than I thought there’d be.”

“Female bodies react better to pressure changes, different oxygen levels and temperature variances. Not by a whole lot, but enough to be measured. In fact, if you went by physical tolerances; all submariners should be female, but try getting that idea past the Navy Brass back in OS.” Karen told her with a grin. “Anyway, you’re off for the night. There’s evening worship for the day-shift, so your meeting starts in two hours. Go grab some chow.”

“Mm. Good idea.” Kasumi jumped up. “Keep an eye on the tracking microphones. I don’t want them getting the pods confused.”

“Will do.” Karen promised. “And that was a good point before, about how we only measure their brain power by how they react to us. We have to study the way they act when we’re not around. We’ll put our heads together later; figure out a way?”

Kasumi nodded. “Tell me, Karen: Do you drink tea?”

“Coffee, more than tea. Why?”

“Because I brought my own set, and I haven't used it for nearly thirty hours; which is a no-no with this particular set.” Kasumi smiled. “I was actually going to leave it with my daughter to keep up the tradition, but she's no doubt currently using a rock for a pillow, or however those outdoorsy types spend their time.”

(Author’s Note: The above facts about dolphins and female submariners are all true, as is the story about the hundred year old harpoon in the whale. I couldn’t make that up.)

~~/*\~~

It took the entire day, but Hugh and Megan found a wide fallen log, just new enough that they could burn a space for themselves to sit in it as a canoe, but it was a long distance from the river. During this time, they also looked into scrounging up some wild-grown food. As an experiment, Megan sewed a few big skunk cabbage leaves into a cup with grass strands. “Chogan said that you can boil water in a leaf this way. It seems impossible, but he swears it works. The water keeps the leaf from burning up. It still burns down to the water level, but no more than that, so if we balance it right, we’ve got a pot to boil water in.”

“Wish you’d told me that before I lugged a kettle all this way.” Hugh remarked lightly. “You and Chogan were seeing a lot of each other, huh?”

“For a while.” Megan allowed.

“And then Aiden at the Wildlife Centre.” Hugh added.

Megan flushed. “That was barely a conversation, dad. I’m three times his age.”

“A distinction that grows less impressive with each passing century.” Hugh pointed out. “There’s a good few decades between your mother and I.”

“Granted, but…” Megan shook her head. “I could never be with anyone that wasn’t in OS. I was talking with Aiden, and I swear, I just wanted to wrap him in a blanket and put him somewhere safe, bring him some chicken soup…”

“Naivete isn’t an issue either, anymore. It’s not like people need to keep their guard up.”

Megan shrugged. “Yeah, well… Anyone who wants to be with me will have to. I think that’s why I liked Chogan so much. He knows how to handle skittish wild animals. He’s patient that way.”

“But you turned him down too, as I recall.”

“He’s an animal person, dad. What can you do with people like that?”

Hugh didn’t remark on it further, working on the fallen tree. He was stripping away all the sticks and branches that it might get caught on, in preparation for lugging it to the river. Megan went searching for more food. By lunchtime, they had wild onion soup, sassafras tea, mashed cattail tubers, mushrooms and dogtooth bulbs, and thin pancakes made from ground acorn powder. Megan had even found a wild bee’s nest and they had honey on their pancakes and fresh honeycomb for dessert.

“Not bad for a day’s searching.” Megan hummed, and the two of them settled in against the trees for an afternoon nap. “Sometimes I used to dream about going wild. Back in the squat, I wondered if I could do it. Though I would have had to worry more about the bees in that hive if I tried it then.”

“I think everyone’s had that idea at some point.” Hugh grinned. “I had the same idea when I was about nine. I figured it couldn’t be that hard, and mom could never make me take a nap again. I made it halfway to the school before it got dark, and I spent a terrifying night in the bushes behind the gym before I came running home.”

Megan laughed. “I wonder if kids born after A-Day have had the same fantasy? Why would they ever want to run away from anything?”

Hugh didn’t answer, but it was a question that had occurred to him. So much of the way people acted had been written off as ‘human nature’ but that had changed dramatically since A-Day. People in OS had a strong independent streak, naturally tried to ‘spin’ their side in a disagreement, naturally sought to improve their means, or reach out for more, or to enjoy pleasures and diversions, sometimes a little too much...

Human nature was also to stick with your friends, even if you didn’t agree, or to put your family first, no matter what; or to value your own people more than others. But until A-Day, human nature had been temporary and finite. With borders abolished, money borderline optional and life eternal, was human nature really changing? Did people even feel the need to escape into diversions and entertainment when the world was no longer harsh or scary? If it took a thousand years to find friends with shared interests and work you enjoyed and your house set up ‘just right’ it was still going to happen.

Aloud, he gave Megan an answer. “Everyone views paradise differently. Some people want to go out with friends, some people prefer to stay in. Some people want to be surrounded by animals, some people are fine with not having any. Some people like living in a community, and I am certain that some will enjoy the idea of going solo in the wilderness.”

“I agree.” Megan decided. “I just wonder if the world really is big enough for billions of people to each have their own personal paradise...” She smirked. “Especially when a lot of us are still trying to figure out what they want to do with eternal life.”

Hugh looked at her sideways. “Sounds like as good a cue as any.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. You and your mother were exchanging some very pointed looks before she left. I didn’t remark on it at the time, but…”

Megan sighed. “Yeah. Your powers of observation are three hundred years older than my poker face. We don’t even play poker for money any more, so I guess it’s my own fault for being rusty.”

“Not that rusty. Came in fourth in the Regional Tournament last year. If we still played for money, you’d own everything but my socks right now.”

Megan snorted. “I got a job offer of my own while you were in Italy. It’s why I came over on the Stargazer. It wasn’t just to meet with you, it was a job interview.”

“Really? That’s great!” Hugh looked at her sideways. “Is that great?”

“It’s something…” Megan nodded. “Yeah. I want to take the job.”

“What’s the job description?”

Megan took a breath. “Working at a halfway home. The Returning is as fast as it ever was, but we still don’t understand the pattern. Maybe someday in ten thousand years, someone will figure it out, but for now, there are plenty of kids coming back before parents, plenty of kids coming back with no idea of who their parents are… To say nothing of all the unclaimed kids.” She waved a hand at herself. “I got handed directly to a family. But that’s not happening for everyone. I don’t know if the numbers just don’t stack up that way, or if the adults are all being placed elsewhere, or if these kids just don’t have anyone at all, but…” Megan shrugged. “I have experience with growing up in The System. I have experience with ‘re-entry trouble’ and I know those kinds of Orphanages. And most of all, I know that it gets better. I want…” She spread her hands wide. “I’ve been helping out with the kids that come back in this area, and apparently someone heard my name mentioned, which is basically the way anyone gets hired now. I want to do for a thousand kids what I wanted someone to do for me when I was that age.” She reached out a hand. “What you and Kasumi did, in fact.”

Hugh gave her a tight hug. “Agape can make the oddest families work, baby girl. I see you with the kids in this area, and they all know you by name now. You’re a big sister to at least three dozen people who will still think of you that way in a million years. I can see you doing that with your life.”

“Well, it won’t be forever.” Megan promised him. “Five hundred years until the Millennium is over. Nobody knows how long it will be until the graveyards are completely empty, but it will be less than that. All of history's Lost Boys and Girls could have homes within fifty years, or it could take the full five hundred. So, it’s a temp job; but a long term one.”

“And more importantly, a rewarding one.” Hugh reminded her. “A thousand years from now, there will be hundreds of people who have you to thank for making them feel at home in a whole new world.”

“A better world. One that they won’t even process as real at first.” Megan smiled. “Well, I’m replacing someone at the end of their contract, so I’ll be able to stay until mom gets back. But in the meantime…”

“So.” Hugh asked casually. “What happens when one of the kids asks for a pet?”

Megan jerked like she’d just been slapped across the face. “Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Hm.” Hugh didn't push it. “Want to see if we can move this thing now?”

They both took an end of the log and put all their strength into it. It wouldn’t budge. They tried cutting a clearer path for it, but it wouldn’t budge. They tried rolling it instead… nothing.

Megan slapped her hand on the lumber ineffectually. “Darn. It would have been perfect, wouldn’t it?”

Hugh was about to answer when they heard the sound of crunching. Almost like…

“Chewing.” Megan said it for him. “I heard it! Something big is… chewing.” She looked back at her father. “Are you very VERY sure that animals don’t eat each other any more? I mean, have they all got the memo?”

Hugh grinned, suddenly emboldened. “Shall we?”

“Jehovah God, we’re just curious.” Megan whispered under her breath. “Curiosity isn’t worth getting eaten over, right?”

Hugh pulled one of the thick bushes aside… and yelped. Pushing through to look at him was a large head with leathery skin… and three horns. Two long ones, and a small one on a beaked nose. There was a large fan shaped head behind those horns, and a leafy branch was hanging from its beak.

Hugh recognized it instantly. “I don’t believe it!”

Megan recognized it too. “It’s a dinosaur!” She blurted.

(Author’s Note: Dinosaurs are an interesting question. I could find nothing in the literature that directly addressed the issue. At the last International Convention, a talk spoke on the subject of extinct animals, and whether or not they would return, including dinosaurs. The only determination made was: “The Bible doesn’t say.” Some of the literature suggests that Dinosaurs may have been present only temporarily during the creation of the ecosystem, and gone before humans were created. The Insight book discusses fossils from pre-historic times, and mentions that immense pressure can give a false reading on carbon dating. Such pressure is explained in the bible record by the weight of water during the Flood. So there is no definitive answer on if Dinosaurs were part of the ‘finished product’ in Eden, or if they will come back even if they were. I chose this route, based on the idea that if God notices when a sparrow dies, then surely a whole ecosystem of Dinosaurs is worth His notice.)

The large Triceratops chewed the leafy branch for a while, and turned to lumber off. The two humans watched it go, jaws hanging open.

“Did we know dinosaurs were back?” Megan asked, in an oddly thin voice.

“No, but now that I think of it, it doesn’t surprise me much.” Hugh admitted shakily. “A lot of animal species went extinct towards the end. More than a dozen animal species a day just… gone. If they’re coming back, why not the older extinct ones?”

“It just seems like the sort of thing someone would have mentioned.” Megan blurted. “This is a new development, I guess.” She giggled a bit. “And I didn’t even think to grab a picture.”

“You want to go after it?”

Megan was quiet a moment thinking it over. “No.” She decided finally. “If we send a picture out to the world, then our camping trip is over. And besides that, we’d have a thousand curious people combing the wilderness for a lost world. It’s going to get out, sooner or later. I mean, they’re dinosaurs. Kinda hard to miss. I’m happy to keep the secret for a while, because if people start searching the deep woods…”

Hugh said it for her. “Then this might be the last camping trip we make for a while.”

~~/*\~~

They could have foraged for more food, but they didn’t want to waste what they had brought, so they had more time the next day to explore. After a while, Megan looked back at the Redwood tree. “How long do those trees live?”

“Officially, I think the record is about three thousand years, but some people think they can live a whole lot longer.”

“At the last Works Outing I met a guy who got buried in a cave-in during the California Gold Rush.” Megan said lightly. “He said that during the Rush, 95% of the Redwood Forest was cut down to build San Francisco and San Jose. A forest that stretched across the entire Santa Cruz mountains.”

Hugh nodded. “Most of the redwoods you see are about 300 years old. To a redwood tree, that’s a toddler. According to Alec, the first thing the Restoration teams did was plant redwood trees; because they grow tall fast and they suck up carbon faster than most other kinds of trees. After fifty years, there was a whole forest full of trees that grew hundreds of feet tall, and that was enough to build homes and dormitories for twenty thousand people a day for when clueless guys like me started showing up. To say nothing of how clean the air was by then. And once that was done...”

“They plant more trees.” Megan sighed. “I like that idea. Of all the places I wanted to see as a kid, the forest was one of them. Never made it out of the city.” She kicked at the pine needles a little. “What if this is the last time we ever see… unclaimed land? For a planet full of people who only have part time jobs, we never stop working, and we never stop building places to live. Sooner or later, anywhere that someone goes, it just means someone else gets shoved aside.”

“Well, first of all; you’ve got the wrong definition of ‘unclaimed’.” Hugh pointed out. “Scripture says that deserts and wastelands will bloom. The Restoration is working on that. Most desert sands are turning into workable soil all over the place. The weather patterns have been shifting and correcting at a downright miraculous rate. Millions of square miles of world that was too cold, too icy, to arid… The world’s a bigger place now.”

“I know…” Megan sighed. “I just… Back in the Squat, I used to wonder what it would be like to go bush. Finding food in garbage bins is one thing, but if I could make a fire and catch a fish, I could survive. Not comfortably, maybe; but it’s not like civilization offered me much back then. I guess if this is the age of Miracles…”

“Some have tried it. The wilderness isn’t nearly as inhospitable as it used to be. We're not that far off right now; since we've still barely opened our supplies.” Hugh agreed. “But if you want a place where humans have never touched, you’ll need somewhere a lot more further out than here.”

They ate, they told campfire stories, they watched the stars. The night was such that they didn’t bother with the tent, or even the sleeping bags. The grass was long and cool and soft, and they slept by their fire as it burned down to embers during the night.

Megan woke up during the night, and tossed a few sticks onto the embers. She liked watching the campfire…

And then she heard the dinosaur again. For such a large creature, it was remarkably light on its feet, but she could tell it had settled for the night too. I have to stop calling him, or her an ‘it’ she reflected to herself. She looked over at her father for a moment, chewing her lip. Oh, why not?

She crept away from the camp and followed the deep bass rumble of the huge creature’s breathing. It was almost a purr, but much louder. Loud enough that she could follow it in the dark. The moon was full and the stars shone brightly, and she made her way to a spot beneath a large leafy tree. The triceratops was there, legs tucked under it like a big cat as it slept.

She noticed it had one eye open. It (She? He?) was watching the human approach.

Megan thought back to what Chogan had told her about animal training. The most important thing was to get them used to you. The animals were tame, but that didn’t mean it was automatically glad to see her.

“So… Here we are.” She said finally. “I actually saw… Well, this is going to sound stupid: I saw a skeleton that looked just like you.” She made a face. “Great way to make friends, huh?”

The triceratops was still watching her, not moving. She could hear him breathing. Deep bassy sounds.

“I think we’re the first ones to know that you’re back.” She whispered. “When I was little, I had a plastic toy dinosaur. A triceratops in fact. I didn’t have a lot of toys. Other kids had barbie dolls, and I had a plastic dinosaur.” She looked over at him. “So much better in real life.”

She glanced back the way she had come. Hugh hadn’t even woken up. When she looked back, she almost jumped. It had turned its head to face her. The horns alone were almost as big as her. But she felt no fear. It wasn’t just faith, she felt comfortable around the big creature. Comfortable enough to talk about things. “Dad says this might be our last camping trip for a while. He might be right. Eternity means that some things last forever, but I can’t believe all things do.” She sighed. “I don’t want to think about that. I spent most of my life, before here, fending for myself. Doing it in a world where I’m guaranteed to survive is not a hardship. In a lot of ways, I feel more ‘right’ out here in the woods than I do in town.” She yawned a bit. “My uncle Nick, he’s all about the future. But my mom? She’s got this teaset that’s been around since forever, and she makes sure and uses it every day, to keep it in shape.” She yawned again. “When I was a kid, I thought that was stupid. Who cares about an old teapot, right? But I’m over a century old, big guy. I want to know people who were around before me. I never had anyone like that before here.” She rubbed her eyes. “The future never interested me. I grew up not expecting to have one.” After a moment she burst out laughing. “But look who I’m telling.”

The Dinosaur rose up onto his feet, and crouched his front legs, stretching them out to her, oddly like a big puppy asking to play.

She looked around for a moment and found a big leafy fern. “Dad tells me that animals all live in harmony now. I’ve seen enough of them to know that’s true, but I have to admit: Looking at some of those dinosaur teeth, I wonder how they can eat grass and leaves…” She snapped off the leafy branches and brought them over. “Hungry?”

The dinosaur accepted her offering, flat teeth inside the hooked beak, chewing slowly.

Megan reached out and rested a hand on his head, rubbing the warm skin. “Huh. Thought reptiles were cold-blooded.” She mused… when the Dinosaur leaned into her, resting against her stomach with surprising delicacy. “Nice to meet you too.”

The big head turned to look at her. The eye was easily the size of her fist. “Don’t give me that look.” She whispered. “I had to take those eyes from a horse that I loved to bits, and I was able to turn and walk away from him on the first try, so don’t think we’re going to be pals here.”

The Triceratops blinked slowly, not moving.

After a moment, she leaned into him again. “I used to hide out in the Museum, y’know? One of the few places that was warm and free and didn’t shoo kids away. I used to hang around the animal exhibits, including dinosaurs. I used to spend… hours, just waiting out the clock on rainy days; staring up at your bones.”

The dinosaur blinked slowly, and for a moment she wondered if he understood what she was thinking. “Kent was pretty intuitive about feelings too.” She whispered. “But just so we’re clear, I’m leaving soon. You may have been out of the picture for a bazillion years, buddy; but you don’t get eternal life… Well, I guess your species does, and I guess once people find out about you, you’ll have plenty of kids lining up to see you in the flesh this time… But that’s as far as it goes for me. I got a second chance for myself, you only… you only get your shot at freedom from extinction.”

Megan sat back on her heels, surprised by what she had just said. Huh. Never thought of that. I guess… it’d be worse, wouldn’t it? Actually being extinct… Aloud, she kept talking, letting the big creature hear her voice. “Chogan says that animals were as protective of their young as humans were. Until I came here, I never had a parent feel particularly protective toward me, but… I think I get why. So I guess if you had to choose, you’d be okay with knowing your kids would keep going after you do… In this world, humans never have to say goodbye to family the way animals say goodbye to theirs. I figured that made sense, but I didn’t understand people who loved things that were just… doomed.” She started stroking the leathery skin again. But I guess you know all about ‘doomed’ in a way that I never will.

She suddenly realized she was still petting an actual, genuine dinosaur and a goofy grin covered her face.