Everyone, even havenworlders, like to have pets. The type of pet, of course, depends on the type of havenworlder. One, after visiting, and surviving, her visit to the deathworld known as Earth, and especially Australia, had learned of a harmless, but brightly colored, bug called the Christmas Beetle. It was short-lived, not edible - but only because it had a very thick shell, but otherwise completely, utterly, harmless. She learned how to breed them and soon began to sell them as safe, harmless, pets to other havenworlders. People loved these colorful things. Oddly enough, though, even though some got loose on havenworlds and people feared an invasive species, they seemed only capable of breeding in conditions matching that of their native homelands. Which was not such a bad thing, really, for controlling population. And she made quite a bit of time off a new, harmless pet. Though some humans shuddered at the feel of those scritchy legs on their skin.
- Note - I figured it could be a "part 2" of this prompt? I can see a havenworlder turning these harmless bugs into pets. They're quiet, harmless, easy to care for, very pretty with their bright colors, and, in the right circumstances, not too hard to breed. And I could easily see her breeding them to make their colors more vibrant.
https://steemit.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02624-g067-seasonal-invasion -- DaniAndShali
[AN: You can learn more about these colourful critters at Backyard Buddies and please keep in mind that I am inventing these farming methods wholesale]
Frip was fascinated by the insects. They had had a close call with anthropocene extinction in the past, but those who loved them insisted on loaning them some habitat so they could survive. The adults, like most adult insects, lived to breed, and then soon met their end as the resources diminished for the cold season.
Frip learned everything they could about the life cycle. Their preferred habitat, favourite food, breeding and nesting grounds, all of it. Then the engineering began.
Now they had a terrarium containing a dwarf-formed eucalyptus with more leaves than it should have had. There was a heat lamp, a lot more soil than there should be for one plant and a patch of grass. There was a system for monitoring the water content of the environment.
There were scanners and read-outs and Human Arn was slightly worried about the life signs within the relatively enormous terrarium. "Uh... I can only hope that this is a proof of concept..."
"Oh no," Frip cooed, apparently playing with a display surface. There were microdrones flitting about in the leaves. "Ah! There's Bluey."
The beetle on the screen was happily munching on a gum leaf. Like most of its kind, it had a metallic sheen, but this one was tinted with iridescent blue.
"Bluey," said Human Arn.
"It is a genuine Australian name," said Frip. "Especially for pets."
"Pets," echoed Human Arn.
"These are perfect pets," said Frip. "Their status as Deathworlders means that Havenworlders such as myself can get the epigenetic boost from exposure to an otherwise harmless creature."
"And this is...?"
"This is an experimental attempt at bringing them to other Havenworlders. The Eucalyptus is a toxic plant, so sealing it and its fumes off from others is wise."
One of the beetles - a brown female[1] fell from the eucalyptus and did her pathetic leg wiggling until she found some grass to right herself on.
"Dumb as a bag of bricks," cooed Frip. "Way to go, Sheila."
Human Arn took in the supreme effort Frip had already gone through in order to create this environment and was already calculating the paperwork inherent in getting it off the planet Earth.
"I am in sooooo much trouble," sighed Human Arn.
[1] I'm assuming; entomologists please don't at me.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Colin_Ewington]
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