Re: [SG,DS, Colonial] Invasive Species

>> Enemy
>> units would not be military per se, but anything from insect swarms 
to
>> killer plants, to Armored Elephantine Behemoths.
>
>very sf, but with a high f component and low s. why would these killer
>plants exist before the humans arrive? nature is unlikely to produce 
>defences against a threat which has not yet arrived - this would 
require
>speculation and forethough, qualities which nature does not possess.
>unless we're talking planetary hive-mind here.

Human intervention can bring about such a threat, under the right 
circumstances.	Ever read "Legacy of Heorot", by Niven, Barnes, and 
Pournelle? 

(Spoiler Space, just in case--it's a great book, really!)

The colonists encounter a truly unpleasant creature that they call a 
Grendel--fast, nasty, and uses a sort of super-adreneline to make itself

even faster and nastier.  It lives mainly off of a small fish-- dubbed a

samlon by the colonists--but is more than happy to devour larger prey.	
The first one is unpleasant, and kills a few folks, so they decide to 
hunt down and kill all the ones left on their island.  Simple, right?  
Unfortunately, it turns out that the samlon are immature grendels...and 
with no one eating them, most of them get to grow up.  The resulting 
population explosion nearly has disasterous consequences for the poor 
humans.

It would be more than possible to game this out ('tho you would need a 
LOT of grendel figures), and it would make quite an interesting 
scenario.

John Crimmins
john1x@hotmail.com

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