What about the other kind of space worms?
Oct. 25th, 2011 01:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gryphonseggFollowing up on yesterday's post, I have finished my kid-friendly SF scene. Now I'm working on gay YA.
Mary and Danny let themselves into the shared garden behind the houses. It was a beautiful, sunny day, perfect for playing outside. But when they got out there, they found their friend Rutrin crying in the garden!
The lanky Skenervian sat among the flower beds, tugging his long ears as he cried. Danny’s cousin Megan patted Rutrin and told him there was “still time.”
“Time for what?” Mary asked. “What’s wrong? Did you forget to do your homework, Rutrin?”
“Oh, no, it’s worse than that,” said Rutrin. He picked up a clear plastic container that had a couple of crawly, slimy things at the bottom.
“Where did the rest of your space worms go?” asked Danny.
“Into the soil beneath your feet,” Rutrin replied sadly. “I set them out because I was going to help my mother do more tests on them tonight, and I only left the room for a minute, but while I wasn’t looking, Tommy took them out here and dumped them.”
“What?” said Danny. “Why would he throw out perfectly good worms?”
“I don’t think Tommy understood what he was doing,” said Megan. “He is very little, you know.”
“Yeah,” said Danny. “Nobody ever lets me forget.”
Mary peered at the two worms that were left in the plastic container. They didn’t look exactly like earthworms—their color was more orange than brown, and their segments were bigger—but they looked awfully similar. She’d listened to Rutrin’s mother talk about them enough to know that they did the same things on their planet that earthworms did on Earth. “Is it really so bad that they’re in the soil?” Mary asked. “That’s where worms belong, right?”
“I don’t know if it’s bad or not,” said Rutrin. “That’s why we were going to do more tests. If these worms absorb the same nutrients that your earthworms do and if they do it faster or get more energy and nutrients from the same food, they might out-compete the earthworms and drive earthworms to extinction.
“You mean like the dinosaurs?” asked Danny.
“Kind of,” said Megan. “But the dinosaurs died out all over the world. I don’t think a few worms out-competing the worms around here would have much effect on the rest of the world. We’re looking at a local extinction at worst.”
“You might be surprised,” Rutrin said glumly. “These worms make new worms really fast if they get the right nutrients. Oh, we’ve been so careful not to introduce an invasive species that might harm the native wildlife through either predation or competition! And for what? Only to have the danger brought on through a thoughtless mistake!” Rutrin tugged his ears again. “When my mother finds out, I am going to be grounded for life!”
“How many worms did Tommy dump out?” asked Mary.
“Thirty,” said Rutrin. “Why?”
“Well, they couldn’t have gone very far, could they?” said Mary. “They’re little, and they have to move the same way earthworms do, bunching their segments and squirming along on their bristles.”
“Oh, yeah, I bet I can catch them all!” said Danny. “I’m great at digging up worms!”
“Well, you won’t be catching them all,” said Mary. “I’m going to help too.”
“I’ll catch more than you,” said Danny.
“We’ll see,” said Mary.
Rutrin’s big golden eyes looked bigger and rounder than ever. “Do you think you could catch them before my mother gets back?”
“I’ll do better than that,” said Danny. “I’ll catch them before my mother gets back, and she only went to get pizza.”
Mary had already started digging. She knew she would have to work fast to find more worms than Danny—he really was one of the best worm-getters in their school.
“Great,” said Megan. She gave Rutrin an encouraging pat on the shoulder and held the container out so Mary could drop her first orange worm into it. “See how fast you can find the worms.”
Mary and Danny let themselves into the shared garden behind the houses. It was a beautiful, sunny day, perfect for playing outside. But when they got out there, they found their friend Rutrin crying in the garden!
The lanky Skenervian sat among the flower beds, tugging his long ears as he cried. Danny’s cousin Megan patted Rutrin and told him there was “still time.”
“Time for what?” Mary asked. “What’s wrong? Did you forget to do your homework, Rutrin?”
“Oh, no, it’s worse than that,” said Rutrin. He picked up a clear plastic container that had a couple of crawly, slimy things at the bottom.
“Where did the rest of your space worms go?” asked Danny.
“Into the soil beneath your feet,” Rutrin replied sadly. “I set them out because I was going to help my mother do more tests on them tonight, and I only left the room for a minute, but while I wasn’t looking, Tommy took them out here and dumped them.”
“What?” said Danny. “Why would he throw out perfectly good worms?”
“I don’t think Tommy understood what he was doing,” said Megan. “He is very little, you know.”
“Yeah,” said Danny. “Nobody ever lets me forget.”
Mary peered at the two worms that were left in the plastic container. They didn’t look exactly like earthworms—their color was more orange than brown, and their segments were bigger—but they looked awfully similar. She’d listened to Rutrin’s mother talk about them enough to know that they did the same things on their planet that earthworms did on Earth. “Is it really so bad that they’re in the soil?” Mary asked. “That’s where worms belong, right?”
“I don’t know if it’s bad or not,” said Rutrin. “That’s why we were going to do more tests. If these worms absorb the same nutrients that your earthworms do and if they do it faster or get more energy and nutrients from the same food, they might out-compete the earthworms and drive earthworms to extinction.
“You mean like the dinosaurs?” asked Danny.
“Kind of,” said Megan. “But the dinosaurs died out all over the world. I don’t think a few worms out-competing the worms around here would have much effect on the rest of the world. We’re looking at a local extinction at worst.”
“You might be surprised,” Rutrin said glumly. “These worms make new worms really fast if they get the right nutrients. Oh, we’ve been so careful not to introduce an invasive species that might harm the native wildlife through either predation or competition! And for what? Only to have the danger brought on through a thoughtless mistake!” Rutrin tugged his ears again. “When my mother finds out, I am going to be grounded for life!”
“How many worms did Tommy dump out?” asked Mary.
“Thirty,” said Rutrin. “Why?”
“Well, they couldn’t have gone very far, could they?” said Mary. “They’re little, and they have to move the same way earthworms do, bunching their segments and squirming along on their bristles.”
“Oh, yeah, I bet I can catch them all!” said Danny. “I’m great at digging up worms!”
“Well, you won’t be catching them all,” said Mary. “I’m going to help too.”
“I’ll catch more than you,” said Danny.
“We’ll see,” said Mary.
Rutrin’s big golden eyes looked bigger and rounder than ever. “Do you think you could catch them before my mother gets back?”
“I’ll do better than that,” said Danny. “I’ll catch them before my mother gets back, and she only went to get pizza.”
Mary had already started digging. She knew she would have to work fast to find more worms than Danny—he really was one of the best worm-getters in their school.
“Great,” said Megan. She gave Rutrin an encouraging pat on the shoulder and held the container out so Mary could drop her first orange worm into it. “See how fast you can find the worms.”
