Post by voice on Jan 21, 2017 22:32:37 GMT
Sandkings (1979)
by George R R Martin
When Simon Kress returned to his home planet of Baldur from an offworld business trip, he was amused to find that his tank of Earth piranhas had cannibalized themselves into extinction, and of the two exotic animals that roamed his estate, only one remained. Now, in search of some new pets to satisfy his cruel pursuit of amusement, Simon finds a new shop in the city where he is intrigued by a new lifeform he has never heard of before ... a collection of multi-colored sandkings. The curator explains that the insect-like animals, no larger than Simon's fingernails, are not insects, but animals with a highly-evolved hive intelligence capable of staging wars between the different colors, and even religion--in the form of worship of their owner. The curator's warning to Simon about the regularity of their feeding, unfortunately, was not taken seriously....
The multiple-award-winning story concerns a race of insectoid, militaristic alien 'pets' who worship their master until he badly mistreats them. It was adapted into "The Sandkings," an episode of the new The Outer Limits, as well as a 1987 graphic novel, published by DC Comics as the seventh and last book of the DC Science Fiction Graphic Novel line, adapted by Doug Moench, Pat Broderick, and Neal McPheeters.
"Outer Limits" Episode, Hugo Award Winner, Locus Poll Award Winner, Nebula Award Winner
Text:
www.scribd.com/document/286935550/Sandkings
Audiobook:
Televised Adaptation
(Summary from IMDb)
When his research project is closed down, Simon Kress rescues a few of its living subjects and transplants them to a recreation of their native Martian environment in his barn. They grow and learn, but then Kress makes an error with disastrous implications.
- Written by CommanderBalok[/li][li style="background-color:rgb(251, 251, 251);border:1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255);line-height:18.200000762939453px;padding:8px 12px;"]The scientist and family man Dr. Simon Kress has been researching the development of a species using eggs found in a sample of Martian soil. When one bug escapes from the laboratory breaking the security of the facility, the project is shut-down by the government due to its hazard and Dr. Simon is fired. Dr. Simon expected to win the Nobel Prize and steals 275 g of the sample ground, bringing it to the barn of his property and developing new species. He hides the truth from his wife Cathy and shares the secret with his smart son Josh. Along the days, Simon realizes how intelligent the creatures are and feels like a god since they seem to worship him. However, when Simon is bitten by one subject, his irresponsible behavior changes to insanity, jeopardizing his family, his friend and mankind.
- Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil[/li][li style="background-color:rgb(246, 246, 245);border:1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255);line-height:18.200000762939453px;padding:8px 12px;"]After his five year research project is canceled - one of the small Martian organisms he was working on nearly escapes from the lab - Dr. Simon Kress takes one of them home and continues his work in a home lab. The experiments had their origins in testing how Earth life interacts with Martian soil. What they found were tiny eggs in the Martian soil and Kress' experiments found the necessary conditions for gestation. With the project now terminated, Kress steals 265 grams of Martian soil and some of the new life forms he created, called Sandkings. He believes that the tiny creatures are beginning to show signs of intelligence. The creatures soon come to recognize him but when he is stung by one of them, he begins to transform and the creatures turn on him.
- Written by garykmcd[/li][/ul][/div]Full Episode available from YouTube: