Dust Ray

A broad, gentle ray that glides in shoals of six to nine over the fields of the Main Belt and the Trojans, sieving dust out of the void: zodiacal, cometary, knocked loose by impacts. The dust gathers in a glass crop on its back and glows gold there, so from afar a shoal is a chain of amber lights. It has no fear of ships: it parts before the bow, keeps pace alongside while its speed lasts, and now and then rolls a barrel to shake out its combs.