Asteroid

Protean dust wafts in the black vacuum, blasted from rock as an engine passes by. Its particles glitter and spiral as if timeless. They breeze in the jet wind and pollinate other grey asteroids as if the abyss is in spring, the voyaging spaceship their honeybee in flight. But the uranium craft is silent in the nonexistent air. The temples of its hull open—unfurling petals of a bud—and a smaller vehicle appears, accompanied by two human cadets. The propelled drone sparks its headlights and its beams surveil the miasmatic field of steely matter. Grass cannot grow here to supplement a burgeoning biosphere; there is no soil, rich in nitrate, for the researchers to settle their orbiting boots on. Instead, they grip the sides of the pack mule robot as its umbilical stretches away from the parent ship. Headlight beams search the great plains for their hidden beauty. And there: a prismatic reflection winks in the dark, crystalline wings of a glassy creature looking back at the light. A natural cave of astral boulder houses a glowing geode in the probe’s eye. The researchers latch stabilizing, jointed arms around the opening. And a plastic proboscis extends towards the lit stamens of gemstone to collect their nutrients.