We’re astonished by your biological science. You’ve achieved much and understood little. The mechanics, yes, you grip that, but not what life is. Probably, you absorb it as “red in tooth and claw” because each of you are alone in your bodies, in a struggle of each against all.

So, you don’t taste the obvious—community. Evolution stopped for you at the extraordinary community of cells that is a body. Yet examples of the next stage are all around you: lichens, bees, forests, ecosystems. Life cooperates. But your drive to see only individuals is strong. 

Welcome to the galaxy.

.

Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here