SFFSat 11/10/14 - Blue Ice 8

 SFFSat is a place where a number of authors post snippets from their written works, and give the opportunity for comments, support and encouragement. This is my snippet for it - please also explore the other blogs that are part of this set - you can find the information here. 

This is the final part of Blue Ice. Anton deGama is in the rings of Saturn, planting bio-engineered plants on a chunk of ring ice, when he sees blue snowflake creatures moving towards him. He guesses that they have evolved from the bio-engineered life that humans have brought to the rings.


 

Anton briefly thought about wading in and shattering the fragile assailants, but his own words were whispering in his ears. The predators were trying to keep themselves alive. He could not just slaughter them out of hand.

And anyhow, the discovery of the parasites might well be worth a considerable sum, if he could keep them alive. Even if (improbably) the biotech firms weren’t interested, he had no doubt the vidnetworks would be. A slight grin crossed his face, just as Kellerman made a similar comment over the commlink.

Anton glanced up at Rose, and gave up the uneven battle with the predators. He gripped his umbilical, and jumped. Rose's photonsong deepened in welcome as he hauled himself through the hatch, and he felt her tune quicken. She had been attuned to him when she had grown, and was glad to feel him aboard her. He gazed down as the predators continued their slow-motion feeding frenzy with his crop. 

 

Not, perhaps, a good omen for a space gardener, he thought wryly as he unclipped his helmet, to be driven out of the garden by pests. He suddenly laughed out loud. As the discoverer of the predators, his would be the right to name them. In future years, he suspected people would wonder continually why he had named the blue snowflakes "Greenfly".

As always, comments appreciated!