"Race to the Rings" was printed on banners and spelled out in flashing lights.  Pictures of Saturn were also common.  

"The next test of our dynadrive engines coming up soon!  What would have taken years will now be a matter of 26 hours, or less!  Remember, the automated probe's time is often less than the time needed by a pilot, and that's what this is all about!  Which pilot will claim victory in this next step of visiting our planetary neighbors?"

Turning this all into a sporting event was a stroke of genius, according to some.  Dynadrive, while a far cry from the dream of super-light speed travel, did make flying back and forth around the inner planets and to mining stations in the asteroid belt into an everyday, even routine, matter.  

The further away a vessel traveled from a gravity sink, the more difficult the craft became to control, and the sun's influence lasted about out to just after the orbit of Mars.  So, while Jupiter was reached early on with some careful aim, it took a bit more funding, planning, and straight up nerve to shoot for the next, but much more distant, second gas giant.  But it seemed safe to try it.  

*****

<Inaccuracies in translation are unavoidable, and we can only apologize.>

I left <treasures?> there, surrounded by <oxygen and hydrogen/ice> for safe keeping, and left it all in the care of the two <large balls> of <hydrogen, helium> and <??>, as I do in every <star's> demesne.  

When I found <companions/relations/reflections/future status unclear> who longed for the <harmony?> and <??> to be found by examining and <pondering?> those <treasures?>, I led them through those paths I'd forged so long ago and found other pleasures in seeing them admire my choices in <larders/gardens>.  

As we <manifested/appeared??> at <this one>, I was dismayed to see the inner <large ball> had lost nearly everything I had left there.  Was it <turbulence> from the <star>?  Did some <??> <consume> them?  

*****

Seventeen vessels were finishing final checks, their crews (both those who were piloting and navigating, taking the long trip and those who were staffing control stations scattered along parts of the route) were nearly ready to go.  The excitement built as computer-generated shimmering rectangular planes containing information about the companies and nations sponsoring different teams swirled around screens, as had been traditional since the old days of ball-related sports.  

"Who will be the first to travel around Saturn, our most beautiful planet, and return to Luna base?  The excitement cannot be beat!  While there are other planets further out, do any of them have the majesty of this, truly, the archetypal world of outer space?"

More crass excitement burbled away in gambling halls and other unofficial, unsanctioned celebrations.  In a special way, though, almost all attention was focused on the same topic--a rarity for the race inhabiting that planet, which had revolved around the sun several hundred times since Saturn had last occupied this position relative to it in the sky.

*****

They trailed me to the smaller of the <large balls> and I was relieved to see it was much as I'd left it.  A mystery, then, as the theory of <turbulence> was not able to explain why one <larder/garden> was left untouched while the other was almost completely absent now.  

We began to <bask/listen> to the <treasures> when suddenly we were joined by <solid/carbon??> <metal encased> <pests/small unwanted guests>.

*****

"What in the hell are those shapes!"  Shadows of something else?  Clouds, or mist?  They moved on their own, diving and surfacing amongst the huge boulder-sized chunks of ice of Saturn's rings.  "Like whales," one of the navigators said with wonder.  

*****

I <held/captured> most of them, and <trusted pupil/self/reflection/next> <held/captured> the rest.  What to do with you, what to do.  I <felt at the time but discovered later> it was clear these <pests/small unwanted guests> <must/might/might not> have picked my <larder/garden> clean.

<Overlapping/Entering> their <minds/souls/selves> I found images of something like <???> they called <bees/ants/wasps/some other hymenopteran, reference insufficiently clear>.

*****

The vessels were not responding correctly, according to the indications of how hard the engines were working.  Fear and panic would grip the rest of the world in several light minutes as information about the event would take some time to travel back home.  But there was none of that in the minds of the crews there, in orbit near the rings.  They said in unison in their own language, and on each ship, "We're like ants at their picnic."  The calm felt natural, and none of them interviewed later reported any sensations of alarm.


*****

Do I send you <home> with a <danger/contaminant/noxious substance> as you <may/might/might not> do to <??>a?  Do you deserve a <gift>?  Strange little <dense> things, you cannot <live> out here.  How close to your <star> you <live>.  Until the time is right, you should stay there.  <Incubate/Mature> your <race>.  I will wait for you.