(Image by Daniel Dociu)

“Night creeps over the forest and the frogs begin their mating calls in earnest. The croaking rises to a din, and the kids pause and listen. The glorious stars emerge, and I’m not sure if it’s my imagination, but the frogs seem to plead to them, over and over again, “Save us, save us, save us!”

In Matthew Kressel’s “The Sounds of Old Earth” we are introduced to Abner, one of the remaining holdouts on a decayed and dying Earth. Abner lives in a small wooded area behind a protective screen of his devising in an ancestral home listening to the frogs croak on the nearby pond, reliving memories from when Earth was a vibrant place. Most of Earth’s inhabitants have been transferred to New Earth, while some of the less fortunate live on corporate-owned orbital platforms. Abner wants nothing to do with New Earth and aches as he sees his children and grandchildren so easily abandon the home of mankind. Matthew Kressel’s short story visits the small tragedies and triumphs that make up a life and in the process presents a touching narrative on what it is that makes a home.

If you haven’t taken the time to do so, please read “The Sounds of Old Earth“, and then come along after the jump for a more detailed discussion of the story.

The primary reason this story stood out to me upon my initial reading and the reason I chose it as a story for further examination is the emphasis on connections. In Abner’s case it is family connections and connection with the place where one lives, and even with the land itself, that are examined.

The future Matthew Kressel envisions is a dystopian one in which overpopulation and poor stewardship of the Earth has lead to years of toxicity creating a situation in which the conditions for life must be maintained with artificial assistance. Unlike many dystopian futures, Kressel’s is one in which preparations have been made to return humanity to a high standard of living. A variety of orbital stations exist and a New Earth has been constructed. All but a few remaining holdouts are either on the stations or are inhabiting New Earth. Thus few are living in truly dystopian conditions.

Abner is one of the holdouts, a man who was instrumental in creating technology to inhibit the negative effects of the Earth’s atmosphere. His home remains protected and Abner is reluctant to leave. The house that sits on his land is centuries old; even older are the trees and the pond which resound with the singing of frogs. All of Abner’s life has centered on this piece of land. Earth is his home, not the new thing created to replace it.

“The storm washed away the dust, and the moon and New Earth lay hidden below the horizon. And in the dark, how beautiful is the sky! The stars are so bright they cast shadows, their points are so clear I feel I could pluck them like apples from the sky. Jupiter rises slowly in the east, bright as an angel. And the Milky Way swaths gloriously across the heavens. If I could leap into the sky, I’d fall into it forever.”

Anyone who has been able to experience a night sky like this, away from the light pollution of the city, can relate with Abner and understand his affection for the only home he has ever known.

When the story opens we see Abner interacting with a group of disaffected youth and this was, for me, the first sign that I was going to be reading a story that played with my expectations. It is fairly common to be presented this sort of drug-addicted youth who then goes on to behave poorly or be the source of trouble around which the story revolves. Instead we see a handful of normal kids who are in their own way seeking a little bit of beauty before they too are forced to leave Earth. As Abner is alone when we meet him this gives the reader an early glimpse into the kind of man that he is. His willingness to bring these kids into his sanctuary, to share his home and food with them, speaks volumes. This is also where Kressel gives readers the information that despite the fact that people have a “better” place to go to escape the decay of Earth, issues of poverty and class struggles continue to exist. Not everyone gets to go to the New and Improved Earth, the poor (and by unspoken words “undesirable”) are ported off to the lesser space stations.

Kressel’s story is about family and about connections. One one hand it is a story that cautions us against the poor treatment of our planet and that message is given in a way that is not heavy-handed or preachy. Instead it is the more intimate focus that gives that message meaning. On the other hand we are shown a portrait of a family, one in which the connections remain strong. Yes, relations between Abner and his son and daughter-in-law seem strained, especially in the way in which they are very proud of New Earth and have accepted it as home, but the majority of the story showcases a family that has long been tight-knit. Kressel gives indications that things have changed with the death of Abner’s wife and given that the imminent destruction of Earth is coming not many years later it is no wonder that Abner is very sentimental about his home and his land.

It would have been easy, I think, to get a very one-sided and narrow perspective of Abner’s relationships with his family had it not been for the videos Abner watched which were a very effective way for Kressel to fill in back story. We also see the reaction of the grandkids to Abner’s visit to New Earth. As the story unfolds we see just how much those family connections mean in the actions of Rachel and her efforts to create for her grandfather a place on New Earth that reflects what he has left behind, a place in which Abner can hopefully flourish and continue to be an integral part of the family that loves him.

I don’t know about you, but it was both horrifying and curiosity-inspiring to see the dismantling of Earth through Abner’s eyes. This part of the story connects because of the fact that this is our home. We don’t have other Earth-like planets in our solar system nor do we have any way to get to other Earth-like planets should they exist. It is important that we be good stewards and there is, in my opinion, every reason to be attached to this ol’ blue world. Although it is not quite a perfect replacement, I am glad that the story leaves us with Abner having a place with trees and a pond and frogs. I also like that Kressel brings it full circle, ending the story as he began it by reaffirming the kind of guy Abner is as he plans to make room for not only his immediate family but the kids he met on his last days on Earth.

This is primarily what I see when I read “The Sounds of Old Earth”. However I must give kudos to Matthew Kressel for doing even more in the short format, for I cannot help but read the story and get the feeling of warmth from the family interactions without simultaneously acknowledging that niggling feeling that there is still very much a wrongness to this world. That is in part because of the disparity that I previously acknowledged. It doesn’t take too deep of a look to see that Kressel’s future contains all the seeds for ongoing problems.

New Earth is being treated as a tightly balanced ecosystem and though it is not spoken I can image that this will lead to population control, and already is in that those not wealthy enough to procure a place on Earth are living in comparatively substandard conditions. Looking away from the big picture and bringing the focus back to Abner, I also cannot help but feel that his happy ending is a skewed one as well. It would be easy to make an argument that Abner was in some way being pacified by being given a place in which he can fool himself into thinking that everything is now alright when in reality the things he has lost are still very much lost.

I could write another long post examining the story from that stance but I would rather step away having mentioned these ideas that sit in the background in my head as I allow myself to interpret things from a more optimistic viewpoint, as is my nature. I would be interested in knowing if anyone else either saw those elements in the story.

If you haven’t done so, check out the brief interview with Matthew Kressel in regards to this story. I think his inspirations for writing it tell a lot about the story.
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Next week we will be discussing the BFSA-nominated and Nebula-nominated short story “Immersion” by Aliette de Bodard. You can check out my brief overview of the story here or go into it unspoiled. I will tell you that it is a science fiction story with an Asian influence that focuses on, among other things, the importance of cultural identity. It is a story I am highly impressed with and is the front-runner, in my mind, for the awards in which it is nominated. It would not surprise me if it also makes its way onto this year’s Hugo ballot. I do hope you’ll read it and join in the discussion next Sunday.