Categories
"What We Fear" Bug du Jour Doktor Fiction

Bug du Jour: Battle Cricket

Cricket1

“When King Abimelech made war on the Martians, he based his strategy on the one liability these swollen-headed aliens possessed: their intellects. Instead of attacking supply lines as he had with the round-bellied Venusians, he targeted their libraries. The royal geneticists bred armored crickets as shock troops, ravenous creatures hungry for book tape, binding glue and paper. These tiny soldiers quietly emptied the bibliotechs, left dry husks, while the smug Martian guards patrolled the city domes. When the battle finally came, the aliens had forgotten even how to work their laser pistols. Worse, they no longer knew what was worth protecting.”

© 2013 James Frederick Leach