|
|
|
by Beth Wodzinski
Science Fiction, 3 pages.
Originally Published in Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest, 2006
(1) Rate this Story The Minotaur knows it’s time for the rabbit to die. He’s been going into the zoology section of the colony ship every hour or so to check on the rabbit, but so far he hasn’t been able to bring himself to end its suffering.
The rabbit leans limply against the side of its hutch. Its eyes look dull, and its fur looks rumpled and coarse. The Minotaur can see oozing sores in places where the hair has fallen out. Blood stains the fur around the rabbit’s mouth, and its bedding is soiled with bloody waste.
It’s been almost a week since the monstrous solar flare delivered over 2000 REMs of radiation to each of them. Oh, the ship had a Munsil Shield that was supposed to protect them from radiation, asterioids, and other hazards - but it had shattered about two months after they passed the halfway point on their journey to Mars. Nothing to do but go on, and hope for the best. All hope died with the solar flare.
The Minotaur lifts the rabbit out of the hutch, carefully, trying not to jostle it. It’s taken a week for everyone to die, delerious and diarrhoeal. The frogs died first, their moist membranes no match for radiation. The fish, the birds, the mammals - all dead now. Only the roaches and the Minotaur are unaffected. It takes more than a little radiation to do in a half-god and some prehistoric insects.
He’d signed up for the colony ship because he believed in the promises of a new life. After thousands of years of enduring the scorn of the fully-human, the bleak solitude of Mars seems almost comforting to him. As they traveled, the Minotaur realized that the colonists on the ship were no kinder than the humans he’d left behind, and he started spending more and more time with the animals. He knows he is being ridiculously sentimental about this rabbit, but he can’t help it. He has always imagined taking this rabbit with him to his new farm, and spending the next several thousand years surrounded by its progeny.
He sets the rabbit on the cold metal examination table. With one clumsy hoof, he tries to smooth the rabbit’ -- [End of Preview.]