A Short Story by W. Steve Wilson
Invasion beasts continue to arrive and disturb the status quo. The local denizens of the barren plains hold mixed views of these developments. Pressure mounts to act.
The latest invasion beast landed in Shimmery5’s life zone. The creature arrived with the rush of flaming hot gas. Suspended on long, tensile strands, it pounced on the dry surface, six solid trunks supporting its massive bulk. Dense, sharp tendrils protruded from the top and sides, their movements crisp, sudden, unpredictable.
Shimmery5 raised the alarm, and the Council had acceded to Shimmery5’s call for a Conclave to gather all the remaining combines, the entire Collective, to debate a plan to resist the invaders.
Shimmery5 flowed north as quickly as manageable. Their world’s orbit was taking them away from the heat of its star and moving through the chilled briny substrate below the surface of their planet was becoming difficult. They needed to get to the Conclave and back to their life zone before travel became painful.
First, the oldest member of Shimmery5, sent soothing waves of calm across the combine. “I know you feel this is abusive, asking the smaller, older combines to travel. But the only place we can all gather is the largest life zone at the pole.”
“Leaving our home is painful and we don’t know if we can even get there in time,” said Fourth.
“Fourth, we’ll be fine. It hasn’t been that long since we’ve made the trip,” said Third, always the peacemaker. “When the last crawler landed in Glittery11’s life zone, we made the trip just fine.”
Even so, the combine was restless and agitated—the grating discomfort of traveling didn’t help. First continued to send waves of calm and comfort as the combine moved north.
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Shimmery5 arrived at the north polar life zone. As was customary, they would make their case before any discussion started.
“Unlike most of the Collective, Shimmery5 does not believe the invaders are benevolent,” said First. “We have no assurance if they come, they will restore the planet and leave.” A ripple of dissent flowed across the Collective. “Dissent all you want, but our current form has served us well for the two billion revolutions since our home lost its atmosphere and baked under harsh radiation—no longer protected by a magnetic shield.”
“I disagree,” said the first of Glittery11, shedding a wave of excitement. “We can all remember from before the Change, they come from a watery planet with a dense atmosphere. Why wouldn’t they rebuild the seas and restore the air? We could reverse our changes and return to the surface.” A current of longing and frustration flowed from Glittery11. “We could return to our solid form, traveling our home, flowing across the wet landscapes, swimming in lakes and seas, touching each other with physical tendrils, not these unsatisfying energy exchanges. We could be a real Collective again and not have to live in our separate life zones.”
First drew some energy from Shimmery5 and pushed back on the wave of dissent now building in the Collective. “We don’t know what they’ll do. They could change our world in ways that we couldn’t live with. These invaders need to be stopped. The beasts they send keep getting larger and stronger. This time they even sent a flyer that flits around with thin spindly tendrils and whirring parts that move too fast to follow. What if they find us? Now is the time to act.”
The energy in the collective shifted as some of the larger combines allied with Glittery11 and pushed back against Shimmery5, exhausting First.
“We prefer to think of them as visitors,” said Glittery11 and their allies. “For almost fifty revolutions, since we first detected the transmissions emanating from the nearby world, most of the Collective has wished the visitors might someday come to stay and restore our world. The beasts’ arrival that began twenty-six revolutions ago is evidence they will.”
Shimmery5 coalesced around First to strengthen them as they argued against the growing dissension. “No, they won’t. We need to preserve our world as it is. There is no guarantee the invaders will create the right conditions, nor that the Collective can reverse the adaptations we took two-hundred million revolutions to acquire. It is foolish to hope we can return to the surface. If we stop these beasts, as they arrive, the invaders will not come.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Shimmery,” said the Council. “We’ve seen their beasts die on their own and it hasn’t stopped them. They send more, that live longer and travel farther.”
Glittery11 and their allies’ energies crested in the Collective and Shimmery5 coalesced even tighter around First. “To be honest, Shimmery, we have no way of fighting the beasts,” said the Council. “We should view them as friends. When the time is right, we can reveal ourselves.” A broad wave of assent cascaded through the Collective, leaving Shimmery5 alone and isolated.
“The Council agrees with the majority of the Collective. The Collective will welcome the visitors, and hope that someday, the remaining combines, including Sparkly457, Glittery11, and even Shimmery5, can resume our native form.”
In the end, the Council remained content to monitor the visitors, only authorizing sending tendrils into the atmosphere to observe. The dust these tendrils swirled up from the surface attracted the visitors’ attention, but they never approached. The Collective’s surveillance could continue undetected. They would remain safe below the cold, dry surface until the visitors arrived and the Collective could welcome them as friends.
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On the journey home, frustration boiled over at being marginalized. Shimmery5 determined they would take action themselves and disconnected from the Collective. They would act in the only way they could, with wind and dust. They would start with the heavier beast that crept over the surface.
Then Shimmery5 would go after that flittery flyer. That could be problematic. It just flittered here and there, and Shimmery5 couldn’t tell where it would go next.
Besides, unwarranted surveillance by a flying beastlet was just plain annoying—it had to go.
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Pasadena, March 16, 2021: The latest rover to land on Mars has detected a dust devil moving across the field of vision of one of the mast cameras. These are common on Mars and have been observed as far back as the 1970’s Viking missions…
[Ref: https://www.space.com/perseverance-rover-sees-mars-dust-devil ]
[Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech]