Communion
Novella 20,117 words Recommended by 3 award/anthology sources
"Tethered to the main cluster, placidly I float in the lazy currents. Softly, gently, a colony-mate brushes against me. Our membranes touch briefly and fuse. Electricity. Instinctively, I extend a single pseudopod toward my neighbor. The texture I feel is neither wrinkled nor ridged, like the infirm or the interloper: my execution proteins remain quiet for now."
Quasar links out; the story lives on Analog, where the author gets the click.