Science Fiction Microstory Contest discussion
Please help me in congratulating Greg Krumrey, 27th new champion of the Science Fiction Microstory Contest
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Congratulations Greg Krumrey for a good story. It reminded me of an Star Trek episode.John Appius Quill
Congrats Greg!Story well done.
-C.
Congratulations, Greg! It's a very involving story.
A very creative story Greg, interweaving all the right elements. Sad too. I liked it a lot. Great work!Also, as this month's winner I'm happy to offer you copies of my sci-fi novellas as a prize. There is no pressure to accept.
Again, great job!
Good story, Greg--a winner anywhere. Well written and involving.
Finally suck my head up out of my hole-in-the-ground. I see Greg save the best for last before the bell rang. Good story! Congratulations.
And yours was superb, too, Kalifer!Kalifer wrote: "Finally suck my head up out of my hole-in-the-ground. I see Greg save the best for last before the bell rang. Good story! Congratulations."
Congratulations, Greg; An inventive and heartfelt story.
by Greg Krumrey
I protested, “I’m a commander of a science vessel, not a taxi cab driver.” We were getting excellent data from the dying star, but the message’s “imminent danger” designation changed my mind.
Once we were underway, we began receiving the science team briefings. Preliminary surveys showed clouds that resolved into giant migratory birds, so numerous they were visible from space.
The first few reports were on migration patterns, but they quickly got interesting. One straggler on the trailing edge of the mass migration crashed into a meteorological tower and ornithologists brought the corpse inside. Actually, they brought the abdomen inside – the wings, which spanned almost fifty feet had to be cut off so it would fit through the airlock.
The preliminary scan detected life signs and, two hours later, a baby bird the size of a horse was surgically delivered.
It quickly bonded with Susan, the lead ornithologist, who named it “Big”, short for “Big Bird”. It waited patiently for her in its habitat until she appeared each morning.
It grew fast. At six weeks it founds its voice and shattered most of the glass in the green house. At twelve weeks, it was making short flights. Having a live specimen solved a lot of mysteries, and it was happy to sit still for examinations as long as Susan was doing them. What was thought to be a second set of lungs was actually buoyancy tanks. Bacteria in the creature’s gut would catalyze water and nutrients into mostly hydrogen gas, making flying more about propulsion and less about fighting gravity.
When it sneezed and incinerated a storage shed, it solved a second mystery: the organ that resembled the cells of an electric ell was actually an igniter, allowing it to exhale fire.
They stopped calling them birds. Dragons seemed a much more accurate label.
Six months after the rescue, Susan began having dreams of flight. When she awoke from a vivid dream of flying over the facility, she realized she was seeing that world from the point of view of her “pet.” Soon, they were sharing thoughts: “Why am I so different? Why can’t you fly? Are there others like me?” It had apparently been reading her mind for some time but could only “talk” now.
It was no longer just an animal. It could reason and learn. And feel and send emotions. Susan was crying uncontrollably when she explained that the bird was feeling a loneliness so deep humans could only imagine.
The migration was still months away but they detected some scouts on the leading edge. They rigged up an audio amplifier so their friend’s cries could be broadcasted into atmosphere. It cried out and they came.
Emotions came fast and so strong they all could feel them. Joy at reunion. Wonder at the creatures from the stars. Gratitude at the humans’ intervention.
Before they could celebrate, the dragons were dying. It didn’t take long to find the source of the infection – a virus that jumped from Human to Avian. The humans, who were unaffected, were able to keep one adult alive by using up most of their medical supplies. The child survived because it was exposed as the virus mutated. The rest were dead within days.
The choices were stark: If the scientists did nothing the entire population would be extinct within a few years. They could not keep the two isolated for long and there was no way they could kill this creature that they had raised.
The humans suddenly got headaches and felt waves of sadness. A series of images and concepts flowed. “It is our world to save. You are not responsible, but you must help us to do what must be done.”
They rebuilt the greenhouse as an isolation chamber and grimly followed the dragons’ other requests.
For more than an hour a dozen birds surrounded it. Its occupants, sealed inside communicated telepathically with the audience. Finally, those that could, continued the migration.
The two inside the greenhouse set it on fire.
Susan received one last message: “Fly free!”
As we broke orbit, we saw a blue flash as the demolition bomb went off. Susan said “At least they are safe now. You know we can never go back – we are all carriers.”