FEATURED STORY
RECENT STORIES
STORIES BY TOPIC
NEWS
TRANSPORTER
Take me to a...
SEARCH
Enter any portion of the author name or story title:
For more options, try our:
SUBSCRIBE
Sign up for free daily sci-fi!
your email will be kept private
TIDBITS
Get a copy of Not Just Rockets and Robots: Daily Science Fiction Year One. 260 adventures into new worlds, fantastical and science fictional. Rocket Dragons Ignite: the anthology for year two, is also available!
SUBMIT
Publish your stories or art on Daily Science Fiction:
If you've already submitted a story, you may check its:
DAILY SCI-FI
Not just rockets & robots...
"Science Fiction" means—to us—everything found in the science fiction section of a bookstore, or at a science fiction convention, or amongst the winners of the Hugo awards given by the World Science Fiction Society. This includes the genres of science fiction (or sci-fi), fantasy, slipstream, alternative history, and even stories with lighter speculative elements. We hope you enjoy the broad range that SF has to offer.






Chrysalis

Will Shadbolt works in scientific publishing in the greater New York City area. His short fiction has previously appeared in Daily Science Fiction and Nanoism.

When our ship crash landed on the strange planet, the natives immediately captured us. The Earthlings, as they called themselves, took apart our rocket, our only way home, without a second thought, scouring the technology for clues to advance themselves. "It's like a honeycomb," we heard one say.
We were stunned and injured in the crash. Before we recovered, they stole us away. Some of us they froze; the others they experimented on. With our antennae, even in a deep sleep, even locked away in ice, we could hear our comrades shriek internally as the Earthlings cut at their bodies and removed the blood, the organs, the brains.
"Incredible," we heard the Earth scientists say, "these aliens seem so biologically simple, almost like they should have the intelligence of an insect. How did they create machinery this advanced?"
We've listened and learned and they are right. In some ways, we are like insects. We are like caterpillars. We require a deep sleep to enter our adult forms. And when we awaken, when this ice can no longer hold us back, we shall remember how they took apart our comrades and our only way home as we take them apart.
The End
This story was first published on Wednesday, November 27th, 2019
Become a Member!

We hope you're enjoying Chrysalis by Will Shadbolt.

Please support Daily Science Fiction by becoming a member.

Daily Science Fiction is not accepting memberships or donations at this time.

Rate This Story
Please click to rate this story from 1 (ho-hum) to 7 (excellent!):

Please don't read too much into these ratings. For many reasons, a superior story may not get a superior score.

4.7 Rocket Dragons Average
Share This Story
Join Mailing list
Please join our mailing list and receive free daily sci-fi (your email address will be kept 100% private):