Food for the Ark: Chapter Six

The Cork Forest

The message-bearing birds had been flying non-stop for two days. Both carried the same dispatch tied to one leg. Since the end of the planet due to unchecked global warming, carrier pigeons were the only way to communicate between arks. LJ was working on the upper deck of the ark of seeds, affectionately known as the doomsday ark (now home to the entire biodiversity of earth), when he spotted them.

“Annie, two carriers are headed our way. Can you get some food and water for them,” he shouted.

The pigeons landed weary, hungry, and thirsty. It was thirty minutes before LJ could remove the message from one.

“We need to rendezvous with Destiny in about forty-eight hours. We’re going to have to move fast to get there on time.”

They navigated through the night, something not generally done since arks are powered by solar propulsion. Due to 500 plus days of rain that ended life on earth, capturing the sun’s energy was rare, so stored solar was seldom used. Two days later, the command ark, Destiny, and interestingly five construction arks, all linked together with bamboo bridges, came into view. Within their midst was an astonishing sight. It was a floating platform about a quarter-mile in size under construction. The couple used their rowboat to get to Destiny and, once onboard, was…