by Rexx Deane
‘Shit, those bastards must be hard as nails when they grow up. I can’t repair this damage with what I’ve got here. The Dyson thruster intakes are precision engineered, and if they’re off by even a fraction of a millimetre, the back-pressure will rupture the diverter and probably blow up the whole ship.’
‘I see. So we are stuck?’
‘Looks like it. Dyson hoops are atmospheric thrusters. This intake sucks in air and the engine blows it out of the rings, and we can’t launch without it. We can fly in space, but not get off this rock. I just hope Sebastian’s managed to contact the Folians.’ He sighed. The day was getting better and better. ‘Good job I’ve got plenty of other things to fix in the meantime.’
***
Sebastian followed Tolinar through the strange, orderly woodland for what seemed like hours. The trees abruptly gave way to a large plain with herds of animals moving across it.
‘What are those things?’
‘Cushyleppy-bastic-head,’ Tolinar said.
‘What did you say?’ he asked with a snort; it sounded almost as bad as when the Bronadi had said ‘Bemorical Crip’thort’.
‘I apologise. It does not translate well into your language. It is a descriptive term. The closest approximation of the name would be “grunters”.’
‘Are there other animals? I’ve heard birds, but I haven’t seen anything else.’
‘Yes. There are several species of insects, small birds, and larger, predatory birds. There is also a larger species of mammal that preys on the grunters. Their name would translate to sunder-grunter.’
‘I take it they stalk the herds on the plains?’
‘Yes.’
‘And where’s the ship?’ The column of smoke had disappeared.
Tolinar pointed directly ahead. ‘It is in the grasslands.’
‘The same grasslands where the grunters are … along with the predators?’
‘Yes.’
A surge of cold sweat ran down his back and he became light-headed. ‘We need to hurry! If Aryx is headed for the ship, those things could attack him!’ He broke into a run.
Tolinar hung back. ‘Would the smoke stop of its own accord?’
‘Eventually, if it had all burnt out. Come on!’
‘It was not long ago that we last saw it. Is it possible that your friend is at the ship now and has extinguished the source of the smoke?’
‘I guess so.’
‘Do not worry. If he is at the ship, he is probably aboard, and therefore safe.’
Sebastian slowed to let Tolinar catch up.
‘We are sure he is fine.’
‘I hope so. I couldn’t forgive myself if anything happened to him. It’s my fault he’s here in the first place. I needed his help to investigate a piece of technology, and I had to bring him along so he could continue. The only thing is, he hasn’t been out in the field for years and I don’t think it’s safe for him.’
‘Why is it any less safe for him than it is for you?’
‘He’s got no legs.’
An indescribable expression twisted Tolinar’s face. ‘How does he move around?’
‘He has a wheeled chair, but also developed a device that enables him to walk. He’s very independent, but I still worry about him.’
‘Your people have technology that can replace limbs, do they not?’
‘Yes, but it won’t work for him – he’s got complications. I think, in a way, he punishes himself for what he sees to be his mistake. He doesn’t trust technology much.’
‘We do not trust technology.’
‘Why not?’
‘From what we understand, your computer systems are limited by the rules of programming.’
Sebastian stopped. Having noticed some interesting plants earlier while walking, he attempted to locate one now. His eyes set upon a small clump of greenery: a fern-like plant with bright green foliage, exactly what he was looking for. He pointed.
‘Tolinar, look at this.’
The stems of the fern’s fronds zigzagged along their length. At each kink another stem projected on alternating sides down the spine. Each of those zigzagged in the same way, and still smaller protrusions came from those in turn. After five iterations of branching, the growth terminated in tiny flat leaves.
‘This plant is a fractal,’ he said, ‘it’s self-similar. Any small part of the plant looks like the whole plant. It’s a kind of program, similar to a computer program – only genetic.’
‘We see. Many things like this grow on Achene.’
‘Patterns like it appear all over nature. You trust nature, don’t you?’
‘Yes. That and the Folians’ direction. But the nature has arranged itself. There have been millions of years for it to work out any flaws and correct them through evolution.’
‘You’ve got me there. We get bugs in almost all the code we write, especially as it gets more complicated, and true, we don’t have a million years to bug-test.’
‘The nature uses only simple rules.’
Sebastian laughed. ‘And yet our scientists and mathematicians still have a hard time trying to reverse-engineer it!’
Tolinar smiled thinly. ‘And so, complexity arises from simplicity, resisting all attempts at understanding by narrow disciplines. The nature follows its rules without fail, everywhere, repeatedly, and without fail. Life formed throughout the universe under different circumstances every time, yet there are similar forms everywhere. It is rare and precious because of its diversity and the value it adds to the eternal universe. This is why Karrikin and Folian do not harm others.’
As Tolinar explained, Sebastian felt his mind opening, touching something bigger, as though what Shiliri had said about the eternal nature of the universe and connectedness of all things was finally making sense.
But nature wasn’t always right. Cancer was a perfect example of the rules going awry … wasn’t it? He was about to ask when Tolinar stared off into the distance and pointed.
‘Your ship.’
He followed the line of Tolinar’s long, slender finger.
The steely-blue hull of the Ultima Thule lay glinting in the sunlight.
Chapter 28
Sebastian and Tolinar approached the Ultima Thule. She stood on landing struts, a prominent, long green streak across her side.
‘He must be on board!’ Sebastian broke into a run and the CFD step coalesced, almost too slowly, as he scrambled into the airlock.
Aryx sat on the webbing in the cargo hold, prodding at something in his lap with a multi-tool. The gel had been rain-washed from his hair and his fringe lay softly to one side of his forehead. His leg-stumps were bloodied and bandaged, and his clothing torn.
‘Oh, thank the Gods! You’re alive!’ Sebastian ran towards him, arms outstretched for an embrace.
‘Nice to see you too, you shit!’
His jaw shook as Aryx planted a right hook on it, flooring him. ‘Hey! What in Hel’s name was that for?’
‘Nearly getting yourself killed, twice, and ejecting the pod, leaving me on a hostile alien world, alone.’
‘I’m sorry … Are you alright?’ He heaved himself up.
Aryx reached out and grabbed him around the waist, squeezing the air from his lungs. ‘I am, now you’re back. I thought you were dead!’
‘I thought I was. The Folians saved me.’
‘Why the hell did you leave the ship?’
Sebastian stepped back to give Aryx – and himself – room to breathe. ‘It’s a long story. They teleported me out just as I managed to clear the mountain, but I heard a noise before I blacked out.’
‘You clipped the rocks. There’s a gash on the keel but I managed to repair the conduits. Something shorted out in the comms relay that must have blown our wristcoms … Hey, what are you on about, teleported? Teleportation isn’t possible!’
‘It is. With magic.’
Aryx frowned and folded his arms. ‘Really.’
‘Yes, really. The Folians also have a special
fruit that healed my infected bite.’ Sebastian extended his arm.
Aryx rubbed his bandages. ‘Can they fix the cuts on my legs?’
‘Probably. What happened to you?’
‘Things you wouldn’t believe. I had to climb a cliff and got interrupted by a disembodied voice halfway up, nearly got eaten by a giant fish, and then got attacked by some overgrown six-legged thing—’
‘Disembodied voice? You’ve met the Folians?’
Aryx screwed his face up and shook his head. ‘No, the cube spoke to me. What do the Folians—’
Tolinar entered the hold.
‘Speak of the devil.’
‘Ah, Tolinar, I’d like to introduce you to Aryx Trevarian. Aryx, this is Tolinar …’ He clicked his fingers as he attempted to recall.
‘Simply Tolinar.’ The lithe alien stepped forwards, bowing slightly, and extended a slender hand towards the marine, mixing customs. ‘Pleased to meet you, Aryx Trevarian,’ he said, giving a thin smile.
‘Uh, likewise.’ Aryx’s enormous grip shook the offered hand and Tolinar winced. ‘I guess I have you to thank for having to put up with him for a while longer, then.’ Aryx turned to Sebastian and nodded in Tolinar’s direction. ‘As I was saying, why would they have disembodied voices?’
‘Tolinar’s not a Folian. He’s Karrikin.’
‘Eh?’
Sebastian took a deep breath. ‘You won’t believe me, but Folians are actually sentient trees with a consciousness that can move from one tree to another. They’re the dryads from old Earth mythology.’
Aryx raised an eyebrow.
‘It is true,’ Tolinar said. ‘We act as ambassadors for the Folian people, who cannot leave this world. They have visited many other planets through the ages.’
‘Will I get to meet them? I’ve always wanted to talk to a plant. See if they liked the Ecological Crux.’
‘I’m sure they’d have approved,’ Sebastian said.
‘It would be difficult to speak with the Folians due to our distance from the forest, but not impossible.’ Tolinar looked down at Aryx’s bandages. ‘Do you require healing?’
Nodding, Aryx smiled weakly. ‘Would be nice.’
Tolinar put his hand in a pouch at his side and withdrew one of the Cambium fruit.
Aryx took it. ‘What am I supposed to do with this, rub it on?’
‘No, you eat it,’ Sebastian said. ‘Be careful, it’s got a big stone in it.’
Aryx bit into the fruit and winced.
‘Too sweet for you?’
He scowled back and began scratching his legs.
‘Take the bandages off – you’ll be surprised.’
He finished eating the fruit, handed the stone to Sebastian, and began peeling off his bandages. His mouth hung open. The wounds had healed without a trace of scarring. ‘We should take some of those back with us!’
‘That is not possible,’ Tolinar said. ‘The fruit do not keep long enough, and to be effective they need to be within range of the Folians’ influence. The fruit acts in a similar manner to your nanotechnology.’
‘Interesting …’
‘I told Tolinar you two would probably get on well,’ Sebastian said. ‘They don’t trust technology, either.’
‘Ah, I’ve changed my ideas about that lately.’
‘What’s happened?’ Sebastian folded his arms. He couldn’t wait to hear the explanation. It was rare for anything to change Aryx’s mind.
‘While you were off frolicking about in the woods with dryads and fairies, I nearly got crushed by the ship during an animal attack. I really could have done with your help, but luckily the cube stepped in.’
‘The cube Gladrin gave us?’ Sebastian’s head began to pound with excitement.
‘Yes, that’s what I was trying to tell you. I was climbing the cliff using the mobipack, and halfway up the cube spoke to me. I nearly had a heart attack – I could have fallen to my death.’
‘So it’s a computer, a TI?’
‘An artificial intelligence – no, not an artificial intelligence. It refers to itself as a Silicon Intelligence.’
‘It’s self-aware?’
‘It is,’ a voice with a crisp, cultured English accent said, ‘and it can also hear everything you say.’
Sebastian hadn’t noticed the cube on the crate next to the cargo net, and he jumped as the bar of lights illuminated. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.’ He turned to Aryx. ‘Who programmed it, do you know?’
‘Nobody programmed it, that’s the point. It was attached to a robot or something and raised like a Human, so it could learn. Anyway, we can discuss this on the way back to the station, which brings us to another point.’
‘I’m listening.’
‘One of the Dyson thrusters is knackered and I can’t fix it with the tools I’ve got here. Once we’re in space, we should be fine, but we can’t take off. I was hoping if you met the Folians …’
Great, another problem. ‘Tolinar, I hate to ask, but is this something Shiliri might be able to help with?’
‘It is possible. We will call Shiliri to request a ship.’ The alien turned and made his way out.
Sebastian smiled. ‘Looks like you’re going to get to meet a Folian.’
Aryx grabbed the cube, transferred to his chair, and wheeled after Tolinar as he strode down the ramp.
Sebastian followed. Aryx had better not cause a scene. Sure, he liked plants, but he probably wasn’t about to start believing they could be intelligent.
Tolinar stood at the foot of the ramp, eyes closed, his face tilted to the sky. The grass around the ship rustled quietly to itself in the warm breeze that had started to pick up. Were those words in the rubbing of grasses?
Aryx’s brow was furrowed, his eyes squinting. So, the sounds weren’t in his head after all.
The grasses whispered. Tolinar, what do you need?
‘A ship, to lift the visitors out of the atmosphere.’
The grasses rustled, I will commune with the others.
The wind dropped. Whatever part of Shiliri had been in the grass had apparently gone.
‘What was that?’ Aryx asked.
‘Shiliri, the first Folian I met. I assume that was her consciousness here, or some sort of magic.’
‘I see.’ Aryx looked at Tolinar. ‘How long will it be before a ship gets here?’
‘An hour, at most.’
‘Perfect time for us to have a catch-up.’
The three sat at the end of the ramp in the warmth of the late afternoon sun, watching the erratic breeze blow waves across the sea of yellow. Sebastian told Aryx everything he’d experienced and then listened, stomach knotted with guilt, as Aryx described events leading up to their reunion.
Sebastian stared out at the grassland, watching for the slightest movement on the horizon.
‘Even though Sebastian’s told me about Folians,’ Aryx said, ‘there’s one thing I don’t understand – why do their host trees look so much like humanoids?’
Tolinar’s thin lips pursed into a narrow smile. ‘An appreciation of the aesthetic.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘They did not always look like they do now. Most of the older host trees have the appearance of regular trees. Once the Folians began to interact with other species, they realised they were more readily accepted if the trees were in forms those species found familiar. Over time, the Folians gained an appreciation of their artistic merit, in much the same way your people enjoy paintings and sculptures of the nature. They have become an art form.’
Aryx rested his chin in his hand. ‘Poetic, I suppose.’
A large shadow crawled over the grass from behind the ship and the enormous brown bulk of a giant almond-walnut ship loomed overhead, hanging silently in the air like a lumpy, pitted dirigible, unmoved by the wind.
Sebastian leapt up. ‘So that’s what they look like close up!’
‘How’s it going to get our ship out of the atmosphere?’ Aryx asked.
‘We will tow you,’ Tolinar said. ‘Watch.’
Aryx wheeled a short distance across the grass from the ship. ‘This is going to be interesting.’
Chapter 29
Aryx watched the Folian ship as it floated above the Ultima Thule.
A ring of small protuberances erupted from its keel and extended downwards. The ship descended until the long plant-like tendrils touched the steely hull, growing suckers on contact with the metal. Root fibres branched out across the surface, sprouting tiny leaves like ivy across a wall. In minutes, the Ultima’s hull was enclosed in a network of creeping vines that interlaced on its underside, binding it tight. The living ship rose to take the slack and the woody tendrils creaked as the Ultima Thule lifted off the ground several inches, swaying gently in the breeze.
‘I think that’s our cue to get on!’ Aryx said, having been so absorbed in the spectacle he’d completely forgotten about getting aboard. He wheeled up the ramp an instant before it left contact with the ground.
‘We bid you farewell,’ Tolinar said, ‘and we wish you success in your mission.’ He bowed.
Sebastian reciprocated and bounded up into the hold. ‘Will we see you again?’
‘We are sure our paths will cross again on Tenebrae.’
He closed the cargo bay and turned to Aryx. ‘Well, that was interesting. Oh, speaking of which, you know the ship that’s been flying across the galaxy at near lightspeed, that Flying Dutchman?’
Aryx stopped at the lift. ‘What about it?’
‘I think it’s the Chopwood colonists.’
‘Shit.’ Aryx took the lift and waited for Sebastian to arrive at the top. ‘What are the Folians going to do when they get here?’
‘They can’t teleport the colonists away again. It’ll probably destroy a chunk of the planet if they did. I don’t know what to do.’
‘They’ll have to think of something. You can’t take responsibility for every problem in the galaxy.’ He wheeled over to the piloting console, where the window was trimmed with a tangle of vines and leaves.
Sebastian peered out of the window alongside him. ‘I know everything out there isn’t down to me, but it’s difficult to just sit back and let things happen sometimes.’