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New Life on Omicron 9 By Richard Mandrachio © Richard Mandrachio 2009 Her hand, with its six-fingered
suction, lingered on her lover. The
other reciprocated with a grating vocalization and the embrace of a tentacled
mollusk. As a hermaphroditic couple, they established a
rhythm that corresponded to the fluctuations in the neighboring
vegetation. Their symmetry was one with
their environment. It was the Harmony of
the Spheres brought to the surface to serve a purpose. The green-tinged sun of Omicron 9
closed in on the horizon as it reflected off the planet’s dense surface like directed
lasers. Still, these lovers were
immersed in one another, their movements echoing an oceanic flow. The caress of scented air currents encouraged
their progress all the while. Suddenly, they detached
themselves. The first slithered back a
few yards and, being exogenous, began to develop new layers of growth around
itself. This augmentation elongated at
the entity’s base and proceeded to root into the ground. Circumambient branches appeared
simultaneously upon its core. They
extended themselves outward, only to explode into a profusion of colored
crystals. These caught the last of the
sun’s rays with prismatic abandon. Its lover, ecstatic with the orgasm
it had helped to induce, vehemently split its own integument. As its skin slipped, tiny larvae
emerged. They found their way down their
host’s shed shell so as to bathe in beams refracted by the virgin
crystals. When the light of sunset
dissipated, these beings found their way up the newly rooted wood by their
instinct to pass into chrysalis. The
creatures achieved their pupal state and began to glow like luminous jewels. By the time the night sky enveloped these forms in its sanctum, they had become juvenile winged things with gemlike eyes and feathery tails. They found each other and paired off: males with males; females with females. Together they flew into the tapestry of distant galaxies.
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