Noah's Brick by Piers Anthony

Author:Piers Anthony
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fiction, sci fi, juvenile
Publisher: Fido Publishing

Mission

Next day, excused from school again, Noah showed up at the Ark early. The others were ready for him. “Time to merge the Bricks,” Gypsy said. “We've explained about that to the others.”

Noah felt nervous. “Do you really think we should do it?”

“We're all scared,” Si said. “But we agree we should try it and see what happens.”

“If they explode into a big fireball,” Jay said, “well, that's the way of it.”

Noah licked his lips. “Then I guess it's time.”

“It's time,” Gypsy said, and the others nodded agreement.

They brought out their Bricks and Beads. Each was different, but all had the holes. “Who starts it?” Si asked.

“Maybe do it in the order we arrived here,” Gypsy said. “Seniority, you know.”

Noah held up his Brick. Si touched her Bead to it, and they merged with their six holes. Noah let go, and the blob floated there without dropping to the floor. Then Jay touched his Rock to it, and Gypsy added her Bead. Five holes, then four, as it had been before.

“Now it gets interesting,” Jay said. “Your turn, Rex.”

Rex's Brick came into view. He had been holding it all along, but it had been invisible, per his ability to modify it. He touched it to the mass. Now there were only three holes.

“And yours, Beryl,” Jay said.

Beryl's Bead was a sparkling gem. She touched it, and the mass shook and formed into two holes.

“And yours, Solita.”

Solita had, it seemed, spent the whole night with Rex, and was visibly comforted by his presence. She lifted her glossy dark Bead and touched the mass. Noah suspected that he was not the only one holding his breath.

The mass quivered as if alive. Then it puffed into vapor. The vapor swirled in an expanding cloud. The children stepped back, not letting it touch them.

The cloud became a sphere that filled the center of the room. It became translucent, then transparent; Noah could see Rex and Solita through it, opposite him. Its surface glimmered. All of them stared into it, fascinated by its emptiness. Was this all there was?

Then a three dimensional image formed. It was a swirl of tiny lights, forming a large dish thickest in the center. The individual lights were so small and crowded in the central plane that they looked like gauzy fabric. It shrank, and other dishes became visible in all directions. All of them were slowly spinning, like saucers being hurled over a lake. Each had an especially bright blob in its center, where the lights orbited faster, until they were swallowed by it.

“Those are galaxies!” Noah exclaimed. “With black holes!”

The image returned to the first one, centering on its rim. “And that must be the Milky Way, our galaxy,” Si said, squeezing Noah's hand. He hadn't realized that she had taken it until now. He was careful not to squeeze back.

The focus continued to narrow, until they seemed to be inside the disk, among the stars, which were far more widely spaced than they had seemed from a distance.

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