posted
I was rewriting a stretch of a story where the characters wandered through a vermin-infested corridor---spiderwebs, roach droppings, rats, silverfish, the usual.
"The usual?"
I got to thinking---hey, this is the far future. Maybe I should throw a few extraterrestrial vermin into the mix...make up a few names and a few disgusting habits...
I got to thinking a little more, and thought I might throw the question open for you guys to comment on. Anybody got any thoughts on this? A name, a habit, an appearance, evidence that they had been there...anything? I don't know if I'll take anything, but it might get me to thinking...besides, it sounds interesting in and of itself...
posted
I forget which of the Bret Easton Ellis books it was where he talks about pulling cellulite out of dogs noses after they'd been sniffing in the garabage of the plastic surgeon's office, but that image has stuck with me to this day. Blech. Not a pleasant one, but anyway - there's an idea for you.
Otherwise, there's probably animal excrement. What if alien animals excrete things that are useful/valuable to us? Excreting metals, gasses that are used in manufacturing, etc.
Other disgusting things in the future - perhaps people's old skin? Maybe in the future we'll have some sort of skin-shedding ability to give ourselves a different look or just to rejeuvenate and look more youthful. Yes, playing off that cellulite thing.
posted
I vote yes for intriguing, non-earth vermin. I remember one of the little touches about the movie The Fifth Element I enjoyed was the odd space-vermin thingies they had to clean out of the engines of the shuttle heading towards the Fhloston Paradise ship.
Something else you could have instead of or in addition to completely alien vermin would be earth vermin that have gone awry. You know; mutated through natural degeneration or human tampering.
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I can't remember the source, but it was a sci-fi book where the human population was extremely large, and a source of protein was this lab-engineered life form that fed on human waste. It looked something like a giant brown mushroom cap. It grew slowly over time, like a fungus; people could cut off slices for a ready-made protein food.
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A funny but ridiculously campy sci-fi movie called the Ice Pirates had a whole bit about how their spaceship got Space Herpes. It was pretty amusing, but then again the last time I saw it I think I was under 20...may be my tastes have changed. Still - space herpes...(it was slimy and about the size of a can of soup, if that helps. Moved fast.)
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posted
Ice Pirates. I am glad I am not the only one who thought of that. As much as this going to label me as "one of those guys." The second two star trek movies have some great examples of extraterrestrial vermin that could give you a basis to work from. Gray and psychotropic, or pink overly large and slimy.
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posted
My first thought had been Space Herpes, KayTi. I knew that it was used before, so I went on. Ironically, I was just talking about Ice Pirates the other day. It wasn't because of the Space Herpes, though; it was because of the automated castration belt (the unic machine).
PS - Your age is showin'...
[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited June 11, 2007).]
posted
Well the Space Herpe was basically the chest burster from Alien with a touch of the Gopher from Caddylshack thrown in.
Perhaps bugs/parasites that have been engineered to help man. Lice that eat dead human skin and excrete oxygen for example or things along those lines.
A good vermin out of control would be the brownies from Gripping Hand (sequel to Mote in God's Eye). Thos little buggers were great.
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