The Elephants of Poznan, Orson Scott Card

Image via WikipediaOrson Scott Card is another one of those authors whom I've seen on a variety of book covers in those second hand book stores that I used to frequent in the science fiction section, but I never got around to giving a chance. Thus, this story, "The Elephants of Poznan" is the first fiction of his that I have read. This selection is in Lightspeed Magazine, via Amazon.com. It is in the January, 2011 copy.

The story is set in Poland at some point in the unknown future. A great plague has virtually wiped out the human race. There are only, as it is written, 50 to 100 survivors of the great plague. If one were to average that out to 75 per 100,000, then that would mean there would be 4.5 million people left standing from the six billion or so that we have now. Still a substantial population for a city. But it's hard to imagine a megacity like Seoul being reduced to 7,500 people. Further, those who are left alive are left unable to reproduce. No one is able to have children at all. At least almost no one is able to reproduce. The exception to this rule is the narrator, Lukasz and his wife. The child that is born, however, is highly unusual. It does not entirely resemble a human, and giving birth to it is too much for the mother, who dies giving birth.

Image via WikipediaFrom there, it gets a bit strange. Elephants seem to have taken over the earth.They're known to be everywhere. Europe, America, as well as their traditional habitats.

In the end, it is discovered that human kind has stopped existing to make way for a new race. It's a new race begun by a new Adam and Eve. This Adam and Eve are significantly different than the humans who were their ancestors. They have overcome the current difficulty that many women face in childbirth: the heads of babies are almost too large for a woman to bear. This is replaced by a kind of pouch where the baby can emerge. The children are also able to communicate directly with the elephants. What's more, the child, Arek, resembles the elephants as much as a humanoid might. His skin is described as grey, and when he is ready to mate, he secretes a kind of black oil which is the same as what real elephants secrete.

The story stands in a strange way as a kind of answer, far fetched though it is, to how cro Magnon and neanderthal were replaced. Despite the gruesomeness of the story, there is a sadness and dull hopefulness as well. Scott recounts how much mankind loves to fight terrible wars, and how he has all but destroyed the planet he lives on, and that this new type of sentient being that was replacing him would perhaps not do the same thing.

Of the stories I've thus read from this issue of Lightspeed Magazine, it is the first which may redeem spending nearly $3. It's quite intriguing. I don't know if it's mind altering, but it's definitely made me more open to exploring more of what Orson Scott Card has to offer.