What Goes In Must Fall Out

This Space Fable is a lesson for space-born children. The idea behind such lessons is to think through the environmental and social dangers aboard a Village Ship and then write stories that would serve as warnings to the children who live there. Here’s part of the story.

There once was a child who loved nothing more than to spend time with the animals in the Arboretum. The child would show up right after school and play among the flowers and bushes and trees until it was time to go to their family suite for dinner. The child would watch the butterflies and birds with awe and daydream of flying from the peak of the Hill in the middle of the Arboretum outward to the base of the Hill. The gardeners and envirotechs would nod and smile as the child ran along the paths with their arms spread like wings but otherwise paid them little attention.

One Cycle, the child watched a raven fly to the axial center of the Arboretum where the tube of lights illuminated all around and disappear into the tube between a gap in the lights. After a while, the raven emerged standing on a broken twig and preening itself. The raven fell gently for a long time, and the child ran beneath it. When the raven fell in earnest, it spread its wings slightly to slow its descent until, finally falling at a decent speed, it eventually dropped the twig and spread its wings wide to glide the rest of the way to the ground. The child caught the twig and followed the raven to where it landed.

“What a marvelous thing”, exclaimed the child, “to be able to float so long before gliding to the base of the Hill.”

The raven turned to the child and remarked, “There’s nothing to it. In the dead center of the Arboretum, I don’t have to work to stay in the air.”

“Oh, could I do it too?”, asked the child.

The full story was posted for Patrons on my Patreon page today. Become a Patron!