FA+
Shop
405 submissions
Carl Sagan, in the television series "Cosmos", rightly referred to animal life on our planet as 'parasitic'. We feed off those that cannot move to defend themselves (and some of our fellow parasites too.) So what might happen if that definition is taken to a logical extreme by a visiting race of intelligent -- but different -- space-farers who do not share the same root as you and I?
A 365-word tale for your delectation and delight.
Lo, in the fortieth millennium of our Age of Reason have we journeyed to a world rich in wonder and life; drawn to it as though it is waiting: our destiny, our fate. And lo, is that world challenged sorely, for its people are beset on all sides by the lowest form of parasites — vermin of the air, the land, the seas — feasting and gorging on the innocent and pure.
Thus let us our fronds wave and toss, our wrath crystallise and our trunks fortify our reasoning! Let our groves rustle with righteousness, the indignation of those who see weaker brethren lose to the foul enemies of all our kind. Though we come from far across the void, our peoples are one. Though we have grown in knowledge and understanding, our infant cousins call and beg us to smite their foe, and restore again to this place of conflict and disharmony its lost soft greens and blues, reds and coppers, where flowers might again bloom and mighty branches reach into the skies, drinking the harvest of delicate rains; where wild crashing seas swell with minerals and riches of vast oceans; where the warm yellow Sun provides pure light to nourish us all for countless millions of millennia to come, all in serene tranquility, as was fortold by the first seed that fell upon rock on our home world as the Gods passed by, granting life and sentience, as we now bestow in turn …
… Lo, in only ten orbits of this world the parasites have been wholly vanquished! The planet has returned to the purity it deserves, never again to bear free-ranging beasts with fixed limbs, two and four-legged, six, eight or ten, those with countless limbs, those without, winged ones, single-celled, primitive and complex. Never again to roam upon its face or swim in its waters — destroying! Murdering! Eating our fellow plants!
The world is now ours by conquest. By right! A haven for all plant life and a cradle for our brethren. Flora abides! Fauna has been vanquished! Flora shall rule for evermore!
Yes? What’s that, Earth-plant?
I don’t quite understand. What exactly is this ‘pollination’ of which you speak?
A 365-word tale for your delectation and delight.
oOoLo, in the fortieth millennium of our Age of Reason have we journeyed to a world rich in wonder and life; drawn to it as though it is waiting: our destiny, our fate. And lo, is that world challenged sorely, for its people are beset on all sides by the lowest form of parasites — vermin of the air, the land, the seas — feasting and gorging on the innocent and pure.
Thus let us our fronds wave and toss, our wrath crystallise and our trunks fortify our reasoning! Let our groves rustle with righteousness, the indignation of those who see weaker brethren lose to the foul enemies of all our kind. Though we come from far across the void, our peoples are one. Though we have grown in knowledge and understanding, our infant cousins call and beg us to smite their foe, and restore again to this place of conflict and disharmony its lost soft greens and blues, reds and coppers, where flowers might again bloom and mighty branches reach into the skies, drinking the harvest of delicate rains; where wild crashing seas swell with minerals and riches of vast oceans; where the warm yellow Sun provides pure light to nourish us all for countless millions of millennia to come, all in serene tranquility, as was fortold by the first seed that fell upon rock on our home world as the Gods passed by, granting life and sentience, as we now bestow in turn …
… Lo, in only ten orbits of this world the parasites have been wholly vanquished! The planet has returned to the purity it deserves, never again to bear free-ranging beasts with fixed limbs, two and four-legged, six, eight or ten, those with countless limbs, those without, winged ones, single-celled, primitive and complex. Never again to roam upon its face or swim in its waters — destroying! Murdering! Eating our fellow plants!
The world is now ours by conquest. By right! A haven for all plant life and a cradle for our brethren. Flora abides! Fauna has been vanquished! Flora shall rule for evermore!
Yes? What’s that, Earth-plant?
I don’t quite understand. What exactly is this ‘pollination’ of which you speak?
oOo
Category Story / Still Life
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 119 x 120px
File Size 339 B
Heehee, interesting take. Reminds me of another story I've heard of, in which a race of space-faring sentient plants come across the Earth. They eventually decide not to tell their superiors about their discovery, because they thought that no one would believe that there exists a planet on which meat could talk.
That is a very interesting short tale. I was about to post something, but that last bit stole it all. If all "meat" life disappears, a lot of plant life will disappear too. All the fruit plants have evolved by having insects pollinising them, then having animals eat the fruit and disseminating the seeds. No animals = no fruit and no flower.
But right now, I'm being too nerdy
Really nice, I'm looking forward for more!
But right now, I'm being too nerdy
Really nice, I'm looking forward for more!
No, it’s the opening to a song. The ending goes like this;
So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
‘The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light’
Now there’s no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
Now the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet axe and saw
If you want to hear the whole thing its here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZiDME3bajU
*sniker* gottcha
So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
‘The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light’
Now there’s no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
Now the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet axe and saw
If you want to hear the whole thing its here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZiDME3bajU
*sniker* gottcha
Comments