Excerpt: The Fifth Season

she forced the slab over and it shattered into icy chunks. The ice removed revealed a muddy puddle. “There!” Kiera pointed at three or four quarter-sized dark brown creatures scuttling into the mud, searching in vain for the ice roof. They squirmed and dug themselves into the mud until they were nothing but rounded bumps protruding slightly from the muddy water. Anyone walking by would assume they were bubbles. Kiera took the plastic container and with measured, slow movement, brought the lip to the edge of the mud and scooped. Two of the creatures did not move, but the others began to swirl in quick, little circles, jostling each other, whirling dervishes in the mud. Within a split second, the other two started to spin and Kiera scraped the container under them and snapped the lid on. “I think I’ve got two, maybe three,” she said, as she sat back on her haunches. The remaining bubble creatures disappeared under the ice again, once Petra let it down gently.
“Let me see,” Petra extended her hand and put the shovel on the ground. Both of the women held the container up to the sunlight and watched the creatures move madly through the mud inside, breeching the surface and hitting the sides, making dark paths through the mud on the side of the container, like a spoon on the edge of an ice cream bowl.
“Ow! Dammit, what was that?” Kiera let go of the container and looked at her naked fingers. They were blistered and red where they had contacted the mud. She wiped her hands on her suit and was about to put her fingers into her mouth.
“Kiera, don’t.” Petra stopped her just in time. “If it burns your fingers, just imagine what it will do to your epithelial tissue.” She put down the container and rummaged through her pack for the first aid kit.