Mirabile
Janet Kagan
Language: English
Pages: 202
ISBN: 0312852207
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
On the distant planet of Mirabile, a settlement of human colonists from Earth is jeopardized by genetic mutants of Earth plants and animals, and it is up to ecological troubleshooter Mama Jason to destroy the menacing mutants.
out of ships' storage and set them thawing. Built up a nice little herd of the things and turned 'em loose. Not a one of them survived--damn foolish creatures died of a taste for a Mirabilan plant they couldn't metabolize. Trying to establish a viable herd got to be an obsession with Jason. She must've spent years at it, off and on. She never succeeded but somebody with a warped sense of humor named the lake Loch Moose and it stuck, moose or no moose. Loch Moose looked as serene as it always
breeders in the sample of thirteen. And they were all remarkably consistent about it. "Hell," said Leo. "Not exactly, Noisy," Susan said. "That means most likely the kangaroo rex is an intermediate for an Earth-authentic." I was momentarily more interested in the stew than in anything else. It lived up to Leo's billing. I was still trying to place the spices Janzen and Moustafa used when Leo laid a hand on my arm to get my attention. "Mmmph?" I said, through a mouthful. "You've got to train
when I'm in family that's one thing. But I would never say to somebody who was concerned about his kids or his crops what you just said to Leo. "Yeah. I know. I'm sorry again." "Forgiven," said Leo. "Better you make your mistakes on me and learn from them than make 'em on somebody else who might wallop you and turn you stubborn." Susan brightened. "Oh, but I am stubborn, Leo! You always say so!" "Stubborn, yes. Stupid stubborn--not that I've seen." Again there was something other than
least." He pointed into the canebrake. All I had to do, really, was look where the calf's squeals were coming from... the poor thing was thrashing about wildly, and the canes thrashed with it. Looked for all the world like a sheep caught in brambles, just tangling itself deeper the more it struggled. Only the canes didn't have any thorns that I could see. "You must be Leo," Jibril was saying. "Boy! Do you ever look like Nikolai!" My ear appreciated Leo's chuckle at that. ("Wrong way around,"
least." He pointed into the canebrake. All I had to do, really, was look where the calf's squeals were coming from... the poor thing was thrashing about wildly, and the canes thrashed with it. Looked for all the world like a sheep caught in brambles, just tangling itself deeper the more it struggled. Only the canes didn't have any thorns that I could see. "You must be Leo," Jibril was saying. "Boy! Do you ever look like Nikolai!" My ear appreciated Leo's chuckle at that. ("Wrong way around,"