could only look on and admire the highly efficient means the creatures employed for spreading their spawn.
The larvae’s translucence allowed them to blend in with their surroundings, making it hard for potential hosts to separate them from forest and river surroundings. During the day, bright sunlight would have reflected off the ghostly protoplasm. At night the larvae were nearly invisible. They made no revealing noises, emitted no identifying sounds as they drifted downward. Their slow, gradual descent, disturbed only by the occasional draft, enhanced the stealth of the mass seeding. Outspread in parachute mode, their insubstantiality assured that their landing on a potential host would usually go unnoticed. Until they began to contract, by which time it would be too late for the hapless host to do anything about it.
Soaring noiselessly off to the east the adults continued on their migratory way, having sown the night behind them with silent horror. The horde of twisting, fluttering parasites descending in their wake landed everywhere: in the forest, on the water, on the glistening river-cast beaches. The researchers counted their good fortune as they clustered together in the center of the boat. The folding roof that was designed to protect them from the weather was a hundred percent effective in keeping the down-drifting larvae off their heads. Whenever the wind threatened to blow one of the creatures underneath, it was quickly knocked down with whatever heavy object was at hand.
At first they tried crushing the writhing, crinkling brood underfoot. One such attempt by Tellenberg was sufficient to show the inefficacy of that approach. The larva in question dodged his descending boot and curled around his ankle with horrid speed. For a second time, Valnadireb’s dexterous fingers were called upon to remove a constricting larva from one of his human associate’s more vulnerable limbs. Thereafter they took no more chances. Standing back-to-back and utilizing a pair of beamers taken from stores and set on low, they fried each successive gossamer intruder.
They did not relax or let down their guard even when it seemed that they had cruised clear of the last of the parasitic cloud. Tellenberg found that he was swallowing repeatedly and unnecessarily. He kept imagining what it would feel like to have one of the constricting creatures land softly on the back of his neck. This was one species where dead specimens would have to suffice for study not out of necessity but by choice and mutual agreement. Even with Valnadireb’s assistance, the live larvae were too treacherous to handle.
In the wake of the gliders’ passing, horrifying sounds began to resound from the forest. At first there were only one or two. As more and more of the larvae touched down and found hosts, the cries and shrieks of those organisms who had been successfully parasitized rose shockingly above the familiar din of otherwise healthy forest-dwellers. After a while this too died out. For a quarter of an hour or so the alien woods were unnervingly silent. Then, gradually, customary night sounds returned, until both sides of the river once more echoed to the bleat and wail of the thousands of unknown creatures who had managed to survive the ghastly seeding.
N’kosi was sitting on a bench studying the first larva that had landed on the boat. Or rather, on him. Ripped in half by the helpful Valnadireb, it lay stretched out immobile between his hands, a pair of thin strands of dully glistening protoplasmic thread.
“What do you suppose the next stage is?” Reaching down, Haviti ran an inquisitive forefinger along the middle part of the lifeless young. Dead, it no longer secreted its protective caustic liquid.
A nonscientist would have turned away or eyed the slender corpse uneasily. Despite having been attacked, N’kosi was all curiosity. “Maybe once it has secured a purchase on the prospective host, it burrows in and feeds.”
“Not too deeply,
The larvae’s translucence allowed them to blend in with their surroundings, making it hard for potential hosts to separate them from forest and river surroundings. During the day, bright sunlight would have reflected off the ghostly protoplasm. At night the larvae were nearly invisible. They made no revealing noises, emitted no identifying sounds as they drifted downward. Their slow, gradual descent, disturbed only by the occasional draft, enhanced the stealth of the mass seeding. Outspread in parachute mode, their insubstantiality assured that their landing on a potential host would usually go unnoticed. Until they began to contract, by which time it would be too late for the hapless host to do anything about it.
Soaring noiselessly off to the east the adults continued on their migratory way, having sown the night behind them with silent horror. The horde of twisting, fluttering parasites descending in their wake landed everywhere: in the forest, on the water, on the glistening river-cast beaches. The researchers counted their good fortune as they clustered together in the center of the boat. The folding roof that was designed to protect them from the weather was a hundred percent effective in keeping the down-drifting larvae off their heads. Whenever the wind threatened to blow one of the creatures underneath, it was quickly knocked down with whatever heavy object was at hand.
At first they tried crushing the writhing, crinkling brood underfoot. One such attempt by Tellenberg was sufficient to show the inefficacy of that approach. The larva in question dodged his descending boot and curled around his ankle with horrid speed. For a second time, Valnadireb’s dexterous fingers were called upon to remove a constricting larva from one of his human associate’s more vulnerable limbs. Thereafter they took no more chances. Standing back-to-back and utilizing a pair of beamers taken from stores and set on low, they fried each successive gossamer intruder.
They did not relax or let down their guard even when it seemed that they had cruised clear of the last of the parasitic cloud. Tellenberg found that he was swallowing repeatedly and unnecessarily. He kept imagining what it would feel like to have one of the constricting creatures land softly on the back of his neck. This was one species where dead specimens would have to suffice for study not out of necessity but by choice and mutual agreement. Even with Valnadireb’s assistance, the live larvae were too treacherous to handle.
In the wake of the gliders’ passing, horrifying sounds began to resound from the forest. At first there were only one or two. As more and more of the larvae touched down and found hosts, the cries and shrieks of those organisms who had been successfully parasitized rose shockingly above the familiar din of otherwise healthy forest-dwellers. After a while this too died out. For a quarter of an hour or so the alien woods were unnervingly silent. Then, gradually, customary night sounds returned, until both sides of the river once more echoed to the bleat and wail of the thousands of unknown creatures who had managed to survive the ghastly seeding.
N’kosi was sitting on a bench studying the first larva that had landed on the boat. Or rather, on him. Ripped in half by the helpful Valnadireb, it lay stretched out immobile between his hands, a pair of thin strands of dully glistening protoplasmic thread.
“What do you suppose the next stage is?” Reaching down, Haviti ran an inquisitive forefinger along the middle part of the lifeless young. Dead, it no longer secreted its protective caustic liquid.
A nonscientist would have turned away or eyed the slender corpse uneasily. Despite having been attacked, N’kosi was all curiosity. “Maybe once it has secured a purchase on the prospective host, it burrows in and feeds.”
“Not too deeply,
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