Ark (Noon Universe)

Ark (Russian: Ковчег, "Kovcheg") is a fictional planet described in "Space Mowgli" ("Малыш") by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. This planet is a part of the so called Noon Universe and presents a barren world very similar to Earth in all aspects except the biosphere. The latter is unbelievably poor: for example, the oceans of the planet are empty (no fish, no algae, no mammals) although quite suitable for protein life.

This planet was chosen by progressors as a refuge and a new home for the population of Pant, a planet in danger of a global natural catastrophe. The name was given after the biblical Ark built by Noah. It was initially planned to gradually change the biosphere of Ark to make it more similar to the pantian one and then transfer all Pantians to their new home. Considering the low technological advancement level of Pantians, they should not have noticed anything at all. But this plan was canceled when the non-humanoid native civilization of Ark (Megaforms) was discovered.

It isn't stated anywhere in Strugatsky's books whether the "Ark Project" (started in 2160 AD) was ever completed and how.

Inhabitants

The local civilization of Ark is nearly as enigmatic as Wanderers. An official contact with them was never established although the Ark Megaforms employed a human agent to communicate with progressors working on the surface of Ark. This agent was Piere "The Kid" Semyonov, a 13-year old human whose parents died in 2147 when their spaceship "Pilgrim" was shot down by Wanderers' satellite from a circular orbit of Ark.

Although Megaforms negotiated (through their agent) to drive progressors away from their homeworld, no further attempt to share technologies or cultural developments was registered.