This slightly long #microfiction was inspired by Jenna. On the origins of the Iced Dragonfly. The common consensus was that the freezer bugs had originated offworld, a parasite or predator accidentally imported in one of the fleets runs for water from a nearby ice planet or frozen moon. Their frozen forms would have provided a perfect camouflage from which to latch on to and leech off of a larger ice dweller or to pounce upon the smaller cold critters. They had adapted surprisingly quickly to life on the new homeworld. They lurked high atop mountains where their infrequent migrations could be mistaken for particularly vicious blizzards or sudden hailstorms. Some had adapted further still and crept-colonised the settlements deep freeze units and ice lockers. They appeared to be a simple chunk of frost or an ice cube, until they sensed nearby heat and their legs extended from their frozen carapace like tiny, wriggling icicles. By which point, of course, it was too late. It turned the simple act of going for a cooling G & T into an occasional extreme sport. Many a settler had been surprised to hear the clink of tiny legs from their glass and find frosty fangs flying for their warm throat. Far fewer were privilege to the transformation afterwards, as the bugs chitin was warmed by their blood and fell away. Fewer still had witnessed the majesty of the creature extending its snowflake filigreed wings, their snowy film glittering beneath the ultraviolet sun, and flying away.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 21:52:04 +0000
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