That night the moon shone brightly on the mountain top. Actually, it was not a mountain, but a termite hill. It only looked like a mountain from where Terry the turtle stood. But he was suddenly shocked to see what came out of that termite hill.
Yes, oddly enough, from the hill emerged not termites but rather dust mites! What were they doing here? Terry decided it was best to just ask them.
"Say, you guys, how on earth did you get out of the mattress and into that
termite hill?"
"Didn't you know," replied the dust mites. "We are directly related to
termites."
"Since when?"
"Since...
...that big solar storm last month, with all the ionizing radiation, and
the cosmic rays, and the mutating electrical fields."
"Oh," said Terry. "I guess that kinda makes sense. It probably explains
how it is that we can talk, too."
"For sure," said the dust mites. "It takes a good set of lungs to talk to
a turtle, and we dustermites -- um, mustardites -- eh, whatever -- aren't
traditionally known for our lung capacity. So, anyway, what brings you to
our humble hill, Terry?"
"Oh, I thought I'd watch the New Year's fireworks."
"...uh, Terry...? It isn't New Year's."
"Oh? Then those explosions I saw were--"
Before Terry could say "n't fireworks?" the alien spaceship finally
crashlanded.
<Oh, zarg! I knew that asteroid we hit last Terran month would have
ill effects!>