Super Short Story called The Antillects

THE ANTILLECTS from circa 2020

The starship Gregarious was not a soft target by any means. Her hull, the outer shells protecting the fifteen cubic acres of interior space, was formed of one hundred and twenty square foot slabs of three yards deep nusteel. The seams of each square slab formed by interlocking shapes, welded together with the latest plasma torch technology. She was called a deep space juggernaut class ship for a reason -- designed to withstand asteroid and enemy bombarment alike.

Inside the Gregarious was a crew of five hundred and another two thousand fifty six residents. Residents held various jobs, and for the long voyages of a deep space juggernaut, the optimal community design turned out to be that of your typical capitalistic township. There were ranchers, botanists, engineers, small plastics factories, and shopkeeps, among other roles dreamed up by the more entrepreneurial residents. This community was more Swiss Canton than military basecamp, though, the Gregarious' and her crew's needs (and salaries) were major components of the onboard economy.

It was always an unhappy day to witness another attack from the helpless position of radio transmit receiverman. Stu Jally did his duty recording this latest deep space incidence, of course.

The Antillects attacking the Gregarious were not using bombardment weapons, you see, this variety of deep space wildlife was using its fifteen thousand ton pincers to latch onto the juggernaut ship. And the one hundred thousand pounds per square inch pressure applied by their razor sharp claws were going to, inevitably, penetrate Gregarious' hull. For her passengers, there was little chance of survival. The mindless Antillects were claiming another spacenest.

The End