Every so often, parts of the asteroid belt that orbit a star are knocked from orbit, sent streaming down to crash into the various planets of the solar system. This can cause beautiful displays of streaming stars from the planet’s surface, and, if the asteroid is big enough, can cause minor explosions on impact.

On its thunderous ride, the gray goo lay still, its asteroid casing hardened to prevent leakage into the cold vastness of space. It lay unmoving, waiting for its eventual crash-landing. It and its brothers speed unseeing towards a planetary body.

The planet is defended by energy shielding - almost every member of this small pod of meteors crashes into it. This one, however, makes it in. It hits the atmosphere with force, its casing protecting the inner sludge from the harsh amounts of friction.

It smashes into the planet’s surface. There is no great explosion, more of a *slurmp* as it hits the ground.

As it cools in the frost and snow, its casing starts to dissolve. The ooze bubbles out, a gray sludge that seeps out of the casing it was held in. As it hits the ice, the ice crumbles. The goo grows. It seems to ripple for a moment, grabbing at the air above it. When it finds nothing solid to grab onto, it lays down, spreading out over the mountaintop. All at once, the ice crumbles. The goo grows.

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Each individual nanobot rapidly breaks apart each molecule, then converts the resulting matter into new nanobots. As the ground below the goo gets eaten, it spreads itself out further and further, and it slowly digs itself deeper and deeper.

As it makes contact with the rock layer under the ice, it ripples again. It seeps into the cracks of the gravel, and the rock crumbles. Slower than the ice did, but it is still dissolved. The goo grows.

It hits a den of snakes. Ripple, crumble, grow. A cavern filled with gemstones. Ripple, crumble, grow.

A small energy stone. Ripple, no crumble. The goo almost seems to pause. It wraps itself around the peculiar crystal, and if you could listen at a microscopic scale, you would hear a hundred billion *tings* as nanobot pincers find no atoms to grab onto. It squeezes in what almost looks like frustration, but then the crystal is translated to center mass.

Ripple, crumble, grow. Ripple, crumble, grow. Ripple, crumble, grow.

Crumble, grow.

Crumble, grow.

Crumble, grow.

Where a mountain once stood, there is only a layer of gray slime, and a couple of small protrusions, filled with the only things that aren’t able to be dissolved.

It sits, surrounded by plant life. A forest in full bloom, with a lake of sludge at its center.

Ripple, crumble, grow.