Shepherd's Post: Science Fiction

[penthius]

The sheep sang, and he found it disconcerting. It was not yet time for the shearing, and none of the sheep were in danger of being slaughtered, so he should not have found it so bad--yet still they sang, and still he found it unnerving. They huddled together in the far corner of their pen and sang their odd wailing songs, that sounded half-lamentation and half-laughter, and it unnerved him. He'd never intended to be a glorified sheepherder, much less to get shipped off to this forgotten corner of the universe and assigned a post, but somehow...he'd ended up here, guarding an asset whose importance had probably been forgotten centuries ago. That was how old the operations manuals that he'd found were--old, mildewed, rat-eaten and ready to fall apart to the touch.

Inspiration: "The Android's Dream" by John Scalzi
Story Potential: High.
Notes: I didn't think this was high potential at first, but then--I dunno. The idea of a long-forgotten outpost assigned as punishment duty to a guy much more competent than all his predecessors, an odd kind of animal to guard, and--yeah. Could be fun. Sounds more like a novel, though.

Comments

[prof-vencire.livejournal.com]

Did I already ask if you've read Norstrilia?

[penthius.livejournal.com]

Uh--can't recall. Pertinence?

[prof-vencire.livejournal.com]

Valuable mutant sheep in a forsaken part of the galaxy?

[penthius.livejournal.com]

Ok, I'm going to have to go with haven't read it. Do you highly recommend? Also, what is it with sheep and science fiction, anyway?

[prof-vencire.livejournal.com]

I do highly recommend. It's very entertaining. By the same guy who wrote "Scanners live in vain".

I'm going to say it's because sci-fi writers all basically want to be Sottish rather than cowboys. And because sheep produce more items for consumption. And have finger-lips. That's fucking creepy. They're also just a bit more stupid and horrible-but-fuzzy than a lot of domesticated animals.

[penthius.livejournal.com]

I'll add it to my to-borrow list.

Goats are so much better than sheep.