Mayfly Sun
By Gabrielle Bleu
A dozen ships orbited the sun, observation decks filled with entomologists, astronomers, amateur naturalists, and once-in-a-lifetime thrill seekers. The crowds held their breath as solar flares roiled. Something teemed and hatched within the plasma.
From the arcing apex of a flare burst a cloud of lights: solar mayflies.
Before the assembled onlookers, faster-than-light wings carried the luminescent mayflies to new nesting grounds among distant suns. The stars grew a thousand-fold with the insects’ gleaming number.
The mayflies lived and were visible for a short time. Soon the ships were alone in a space absent of wings, filled with only stars.
Gabrielle Bleu writes luminous science fiction and fantasy. When not writing, she watches birds and admires lichens. Their work has appeared in Archive of the Odd, Astral, Alien Fiction, and in the Gargantua anthology by Air and Nothingness Press, among others. Find more of Bleu’s work at gabriellebleu.com, or @gabriellebleu.bsky.social.
Very pretty visual story. Nice work!