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a command, and the approaching disturbance was vaporized. He took little satisfaction in his successful response to the minor threat.

He turned to face her for a moment. "Regenerate the whole planet?" he asked, just to be sure.

She sighed again, well aware of the gravity of her responsibility. "Yes, our duty to preserve this garden is clear. Regenerate."

Their agreement was enough to initiate the sequence. A short series of pulses emanated from their ship, and the planet beneath them began to glow a soft orange hue. Soon the entire landscape, now far below , was engulfed in a conflagration. Sthon-ghta and Gsainmht knew that no remnant of the infestation could survive the inferno. Although they understood this was necessary, it still pained them to see this lovely jewel shrouded in gray and black.

They circled the slowly cooling world for a time, watching for patches of blue and brown to emerge from the dense cloud cover. When Sthon-ghta judged the conditions favorable she released the seed pods. Both watched in respectful silence as hundreds of regeneration capsules, filled with myriad strains of DNA, descended to the surface and disappeared.

At some distant point in the future another team would return in a newer craft to survey the results of this planting. Sthon-ghta and Gsainmht quietly settled back into their interstellar routine as they prepared to journey on to discover what awaited their inspection at the next garden, some light-years distant in that same galaxy.

Learn more about this author, Jim Bessey.
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