Exploration of Planet Gloss by Syd Baker

This was our away-team’s first look at the chosen exploration site, a beautiful chain of small islands in the southern hemisphere of this peaceful water world:

From orbit we had already learned quite a bit about the amazing life forms inhabiting the islands of Gloss, the first amazing fact is that there is no “food chain”, these silicon-based critters absorbed their nutrition from the sun, air, soil, and water, and therefore live in harmony without domination or competition.The second amazing fact is their symbiotic relationship with each other and their environment; many of the smaller creatures literally join themselves together and with other forms to become like another creature, perform tasks as a team, then disassemble and move on to other work. There is a level of communication among all these life forms that’s often audible as musical twitters and electronic squeaks, bass notes, burbles and just about every other sound effect you can imagine, the overall effect is quite humorous, especially observing the ant-like industry with which all these creatures perform their chores.Please follow along as I document the highlights of this memorable exploration.

This is an early morning view of the smaller islands that crowd between the two main land masses, as you can see they are all very steep, resembling monoliths, and all are very lush with plant growth, and the air is rich with the perfume of countless blooms.This little fellow sat in a clearing toodling like a harmonica until two large caterpillar beings scurried over, curled up and became wheels for him:

He even allowed us to pick him up, posed long enough for this shot, then proceeded on his way. He appeared to be transporting several dozen tiny passengers who all filed into his open front after the wheels arrived, and later we observed their departure at their destination, as well as the departure of the wheels. A little time to recharge, I guess, before the next jaunt.We caught this amazing sight later in the morning, huge air creatures slowly heading out to sea in formation, it took some time to find and observe the next flock, but they also seem to transport passengers.

They hold to a schedule, landing in the middle of the island periodically where hundreds of assorted smaller beings have been waiting to hurry aboard and disembark, then they slowly ascend as a group and deliver their charges to another place, like commuters riding the bus!Below is a shot of some kind of miniature moisture delivery creatures, they perch on the rocks down by the water’s edge, and condense moisture out of the air in their funnels, then they spin their little propellers and lift off:

These tiny fliers are small as hummingbirds, and whey they ‘copter to their designated shrubs, they start spinning their bodies until the moisture they’ve collected starts to spray out the top, and sprinkle onto the plants around them. They go back to the water’s edge, wait until they’re refilled, and proceed to find the next grove scheduled to be watered. The sounds they make are quite harmonious, like they’re all humming the same song while they work!

We didn’t see these structures all day, because they assembled themselves just at sunset, on most of the islands, all facing the sun, and then they started to play music. Not random sounds, but like an orchestra of bells, flutes, chimes and percussion, all playing the same song in incredible harmony, songs for the sun, I like to think.

All the activity around us stopped, and every creature and human just listened, until the sun finally dipped below the horizon, and it was off to sleep for one and all. You could just barely hear the musical towers taking themselves apart, like stage hands after a concert.Below, you’ll see one of my favorites, a lifter/transporter made up of smaller beings:

He was scurrying on multiple legs through the shrubs, and carrying what looked like a large yellow water balloon. He stopped at our approach, looked us over, held still for this picture, then was on his way. We never found out what he was carrying, probably moisture for some plant, or maybe he’ll throw it at somebody!It’s time to go for now, we haven’t even begun to catalog and identify all the beings that make up the inhabitants here, there are so many, and you won’t BELIEVE what lives in the water… So, until we see you next voyage: Blast off safely!

Click this LINK to see the origins of this story.