I Put My Blue Genes On
Encyclopedia
"I Put My Blue Genes On" is a short story by Orson Scott Card
. It appears in his short story collections Unaccompanied Sonata and Other Stories
and Maps in a Mirror
. It was first published in the August 1978 issue of Analog.
has become an uninhabitable wasteland of biological warfare
. After fleeing Earth decades earlier, a contingent of humans returns to find a small band of beings, now not quite human, still fighting an enemy which has long since been annihilated. The title refers to the planet's surface, which has become a swirling mass of blue goo, a result of the biological agents acting and reacting one with another.
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...
. It appears in his short story collections Unaccompanied Sonata and Other Stories
Unaccompanied Sonata and Other Stories
Unaccompanied Sonata and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by Orson Scott Card. Although not purely science fiction and definitely not hard science fiction, the book contains stories that have a futuristic angle or are purely works of fantasy set in current times...
and Maps in a Mirror
Maps in a Mirror
Maps in a Mirror is a collection of short stories by Orson Scott Card. Like Card's novels, most of the stories have a science fiction or fantasy theme...
. It was first published in the August 1978 issue of Analog.
Plot summary
The story takes place far in the future. EarthEarth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
has become an uninhabitable wasteland of biological warfare
Biological warfare
Biological warfare is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war...
. After fleeing Earth decades earlier, a contingent of humans returns to find a small band of beings, now not quite human, still fighting an enemy which has long since been annihilated. The title refers to the planet's surface, which has become a swirling mass of blue goo, a result of the biological agents acting and reacting one with another.