Alternation of Generations

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there lived a mild-mannered Zork named Zirk. There he lived among all the other Zorks of the universe. Zirk lived a rather dull life as a tax consultant, but it was a living. The Zorks were a proud and happy people, and Zirk was proud and happy. He was hiding a secret though. He had a super power.

Zirk had a wife who, by coincidence, was also a tax consultant. She was a mild-mannered Zork names Zot with a fondness for Chinese food (rather expensive, delivered from Earth) and a love of hamster races. When the two of them combined forces they could create the powerful Space Gleeg.

The Space Gleeg led a totally different life than Zirk and Zot. The Space Gleeg went about the universe fighting crime and smashing injustice and that sort of thing. The great Space Gleeg didn't resemble the Zorks at all. He looked much more like a dented tin can. At first, astro-scientists didn't know the Gleeg was related to the Zorks, but they eventually found the connection.

The Space Gleeg was amazing, but he wasn't invincible. Actually, he was mortal, just like his parents. There was a big difference though. He had a cool super power they didn't have. Whenever he clipped his toenails, the pieces would begin to grow. They would grow into Zorks! These toenail Zorks would be both male and female, and would grow up to become mild mannered tax consultants. In this way, the Zork population could grow.

These Zork children led totally different lives than the illustrious Space Gleeg. Their lives were dull and boring by comparison, except for their one amazing ability - sexual reproduction. In turn, the Space Gleeg, amazing as he was, could only reproduce asexually (that nasty toe-nail thing). He could spread his progeny (kids) around to neighboring planets though, and so by alternating Zorks and Gleegs, this organism was able to be proud and happy and spread throughout the galaxy.


Explanation
This is alternation of generations. In organisms with alternation of generations, there is a sexual phase followed by an asexual phase. The sexual creatures in the story were called Zorks. In plants, they're called Gametophytes. Gametes are the sperm and the egg. Phyte means plant, so Gametophytes are sperm or egg producing plants. In the story, Zirk and Zot are sperm and egg producing organisms.

Zork and Zot produced the Space Gleeg. The Space Gleeg couldn't produce sexually. It wasn't sad for him though. He did a great job reproducing asexually. (There's a subtle my-toe-sis pun going on here with the Gleeg.) In plants, the generation which doesn't reproduce sexually is called the sporophyte. Roughly translated, this is the spore-plant. Sporophytes are great at dispersing their spores over distances, just like the Space Gleeg.

In plants, this can get even weirder. Sometimes one generation can't live away from the other generation. They rely on each other more and more. It's as if the Space Gleeg grew on the forehead of the Zorks. Freakshow, eh? But that's alternation of generations for ya.