Other things existed in this miniature ecosystem. Half-hidden by the green filaments, most of these creatures were translucent and shaped like tiny hands embedded by the base of the palm. Golden nodules capped the fingers on these “hands.” I leaned in closer, like a fool, like someone who had not had months of survival training or ever studied biology. Someone tricked into thinking that words should be read.
I was unlucky—or was I lucky? Triggered by a disturbance in the flow of air, a nodule in the W chose that moment to burst open and a tiny spray of golden spores spewed out. I pulled back, but I thought I had felt something enter my nose, experienced a pinprick of escalation in the smell of rotting honey.
Unnerved, I stepped back even farther, borrowing some of the surveyor’s best curses, but only in my head. My natural instinct was always for concealment. Already I was imagining the psychologist’s reaction to my contamination, if revealed to the group.
“Some sort of fungi,” I said finally, taking a deep breath so I could control my voice. “The letters are made from fruiting bodies.” Who knew if it were actually true? It was just the closest thing to an answer.
My voice must have seemed calmer than my actual thoughts because there was no hesitation in their response. No hint in their tone of having seen the spores erupt into my face. I had been so close. The spores had been so tiny, so insignificant. I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead.
“Words? Made of fungi?” the surveyor said, stupidly echoing me.
“There is no recorded human language that uses this method of writing,” the anthropologist said. “Is there any animal that communicates in this way?”
I had to laugh. “No, there is no animal that communicates in this way.” Or, if there were, I could not recall its name, and never did later, either.
“Are you joking? This is a joke, right?” the surveyor said. She looked poised to come down and prove me wrong, but didn’t move from her position.
“Fruiting bodies,” I replied, almost as if in a trance. “Forming words.”
PAST NEBULA AWARD WINNERS
1965
Noveclass="underline" Dune by Frank Herbert
Novella: “He Who Shapes” by Roger Zelazny and “The Saliva Tree” by Brian Aldiss (tie)
Novelette: “The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth” by Roger Zelazny
Short Story: “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” by Harlan Ellison
1966
Noveclass="underline" Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany and Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (tie)
Novella: “The Last Castle” by Jack Vance
Novelette: “Call Him Lord” by Gordon R. Dickson
Short Story: “The Secret Place” by Richard McKenna
1967
Noveclass="underline" The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany
Novella: “Behold the Man” by Michael Moorcock
Novelette: “Gonna Roll the Bones” by Fritz Leiber
Short Story: “Aye, and Gomorrah” by Samuel R. Delany
1968
Noveclass="underline" Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin
Novella: “Dragonrider” by Anne McCaffrey
Novelette: “Mother to the World” by Richard Wilson
Short Story: “The Planners” by Kate Wilhelm
1969
Noveclass="underline" The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Novella: “A Boy and His Dog” by Harlan Ellison
Novelette: “Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones” by Samuel R. Delany
Short Story: “Passengers” by Robert Silverberg
1970
Noveclass="underline" Ringworld by Larry Niven
Novella: “Ill Met in Lankhmar” by Fritz Leiber
Novelette: “Slow Sculpture” by Theodore Sturgeon
Short Story: No Award
1971
Noveclass="underline" A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg
Novella: “The Missing Man” by Katherine MacLean
Novelette: “The Queen of Air and Darkness” by Poul Anderson
Short Story: “Good News from the Vatican” by Robert Silverberg
1972
Noveclass="underline" The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
Novella: “A Meeting with Medusa” by Arthur C. Clarke
Novelette: “Goat Song” by Poul Anderson
Short Story: “When It Changed” by Joanna Russ
1973
Noveclass="underline" Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Novella: “The Death of Doctor Island” by Gene Wolfe
Novelette: “Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand” by Vonda N. McIntyre
Short Story: “Love Is the Plan, the Plan Is Death” by James Tiptree Jr.
Dramatic Presentation: Soylent Green
1974
Noveclass="underline" The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
Novella: “Born with the Dead” by Robert Silverberg
Novelette: “If the Stars Are Gods” by Gordon Eklund and Gregory Benford
Short Story: “The Day before the Revolution” by Ursula K. Le Guin
Dramatic Presentation: Sleeper by Woody Allen
Grand Master: Robert Heinlein
1975
Noveclass="underline" The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Novella: “Home Is the Hangman” by Roger Zelazny
Novelette: “San Diego Lightfoot Sue” by Tom Reamy
Short Story: “Catch That Zeppelin” by Fritz Leiber
Dramatic Presentation: Young Frankenstein by Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder
Grand Master: Jack Williamson
1976
Noveclass="underline" Man Plus by Frederik Pohl
Novella: “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” by James Tiptree Jr.
Novelette: “The Bicentennial Man” by Isaac Asimov
Short Story: “A Crowd of Shadows” by C. L. Grant
Grand Master: Clifford D. Simak
1977
Noveclass="underline" Gateway by Frederik Pohl
Novella: “Stardance” by Spider and Jeanne Robinson
Novelette: “The Screwfly Solution” by Racoona Sheldon
Short Story: “Jeffty Is Five” by Harlan Ellison
1978
Noveclass="underline" Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre
Novella: “The Persistence of Vision” by John Varley
Novelette: “A Glow of Candles, A Unicorn’s Eye” by C. L. Grant
Short Story: “Stone” by Edward Bryant
Grand Master: L. Sprague de Camp
1979
Noveclass="underline" The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke
Novella: “Enemy Mine” by Barry B. Longyear
Novelette: “Sandkings” by George R. R. Martin
Short Story: “GiANTS” by Edward Bryant
1980
Noveclass="underline" Timescape by Gregory Benford
Novella: “Unicorn Tapestry” by Suzy McKee Charnas
Novelette: “The Ugly Chickens” by Howard Waldrop
Short Story: “Grotto of the Dancing Deer” by Clifford D. Simak
Grand Master: Fritz Leiber
1981
Noveclass="underline" The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe
Novella: “The Saturn Game” by Poul Anderson