Birdsong
A story inspired by images inspired by beautiful words
Isa had never seen such beautiful, bright colors. She had always thought Earth’s tones were vibrant, but Lumous was positively iridescent!
The last three worlds her team had investigated for possible colonization had all been unsuitable for one reason or another. Lumous would be perfect. In fact, Isa thought she just might put her name in for the prep team—and she might just “forget” to leave.
The world itself was what might be termed verdant. It teemed with lush plant life. There were lots of small mammalian, reptilian and aquatic species, though none that showed sapience or any suggestion that they might in any near timeframe attain it.
There also seemed to be a lack of predator species that would create a risk to colonists. Which wasn’t to say they didn’t exist. They simply weren’t large enough or vicious enough to be of real concern.
But the thing that absolutely sold Lumous to Isa was its birds. Each species she catalogued seemed more beautiful than the last. And the trill of their songs gave her chills, even as the plant life around her bloomed in iridescent splendor in response to their calls. If she hadn’t seen it herself, she would never have believed it.
Yes, the birdsong was definitely what sold Isa on Lumous. She would recommend the world for the Eden project, rather than for industrial exploitation. And she would use every bit of her not inconsiderable clout to see that this designation stuck. After all, she was less than a year out from retirement. Lumous and its birds would be the perfect backdrop to her new domestic planet-side life. For the first time since leaving Earth for life as a spacer, she had found home on the ground.
This story was inspired by the images I created with an abstract art prompt I created and tweaked. The initial words of the prompt were: “Musical notes trill through the air:: abstract art.
I then added this to part of the prompt I had used for the story I published on Wednesday. The words kept from that prompt were: “Flowers are nature’s music, a symphony of vibrant iridescent color in perfect harmony.”
The images without birds in them came from this initial prompt. I decided that I wanted birds, so I simply added the words “bird song” and weighted them more heavily than the rest of the prompt.
I really love the results I’m getting switching back and forth between version four and version five of Midjourney. They return different images, that appeal to me in different ways. I’ll leave you to guess which are which!
What do you think of Isa’s response to this world? She’s been a spacer most of her life. Do you think she’ll do well on a planet? Or will wanderlust lure her back to the stars?
I think those birds that affect the plant life with their song are pretty spectacular, but are they enough to keep her planet bound? Let me know your thoughts.
Love this story! Sounds like a planetary wildlife refuge
My imagination gets lost sometimes in the world before man. And I think of it sometimes when I hear a robin's call echo through the woods. Why a robin? No idea, maybe childhood. But for some reason, the robin's call creates a vision of the world your words have created. It must have been so beautiful.