Nanomite 323

by Richard H. Fay

A minuscule probe
Drifts on a gentle breeze
Through an aluminium mesh
Framed in white-painted steel
And into a strange twisted forest...

Sensors detect synthetic material.
Access main memory banks:
Polyamide fibres
Mixed with chemical colorants,
Wound into strands
And woven onto a backing
Upon a hard organic surface.
Further information required...

A gigantic shaggy beast
Thunders dangerously close,
Blotting out the light.
Its sharp retractable claws
Tear at the artificial trees
As its hot breath
Blows like a steamy tempest...

Warning, danger!
Reporting possible aggressive actions.
Registering native creature’s traits:
Internal calcium skeleton,
Endothermic metabolism,
Heart rate 120 per 60 zorts,
Attributes suggest carnivore.
More data needed...

A monstrous mobile engine
Roaring like a thousand rockets
Rumbles over the robot.
A churning, swirling vortex
Sucks up the probe
And deposits it in darkness...

Initiate system recovery.
Visuals impaired.
Sensor intakes jammed.
Latest obtainable readings
Suggest debris mass of mixed origin,
With resident life-forms
And airborne particulate matter.
Further analysis impossible...

After a period of inactivity
The probe’s internal stabilizers
Sense a violent motion.
Once the movement ceases
The blackness closes in
As a metal slab presses downward.
Crushed by massive machinery,
Nanomite 323 sends a dire message
Prior to its total destruction...

Earthlings hostile,
Abort colonization mission,
Repeat, Earthlings...