"The Gabble", Neal Asher

NT ASFM March 2006 - science fiction
Scientists on the alien world of Masada study its unusual lifeforms. Jonas researches the dangerous hooders which take apart humans to small fragments and are repelled only by powerful weapons such as proton cannons. Shardelle studies the huge gabbleducks whose speech is frustratingly untranslatable. Jonas travels with Shardelle in an ATV to do work in the field.

An impressive science fiction story set on another world. This novelette worked for me despite some technobabble jargon and enigmatic references to other things in this fictional universe. I’d like to read more by Neal Asher.