Page 64 of May the Stars Have Mercy
“What do you mean, stay dead?” Aphrodite eyed the yellow Orv.
“Well, not all those who died in the crash stayed dead. Terrible thing, to be infected by the void.” The red one spoke. The three flickered their tongues into the air in unison. They all licked both their eyeballs before their tongues returned to their mouths.
“So, you saw what happened to some of them?” Aphrodite’s eyebrows rose to her hairline.
“Well, none of the dead stayed alive. It is bad manners to be dead then alive. Orv spear to forehead cure the dead of the void.” The orange Orv nodded solemnly. The others parroted ‘Orv spear cure the dead’ with soft nods of their heads.
“So, the Brexzkit were forced to flee into the planet out of their human vessels.” Aphrodite typed into her notes. When they were forced to flee their vessels to survive, the creatures can voluntarily leave.But the hungry ones won’t do it unless they have to, that’s the difference between the ones from her dream and these ones.Aphrodite heard the telltale thud over her head of someone coming down the ramp. She glanced at the ramp over her left shoulder and found Rexna.
“Ah! Vroz engineer! Welcome!” the Orv greeted Rexna. The technician waved vigorously with bright eyes and wiggling pincers.
“Greetings!” Rexna bowed with a fist to their chest. Then, standing up straight, glanced at Aphrodite. “We’ve gotten a fewstrange readings a click or two to the east. I’ve got Kern, our pilot, and Jruc on guard duty, but shall we go investigate?”
“Sure! Buddy!” Aphrodite whirled to her drone who zipped to her side. They started toward the tree line. Aphrodite felt the shift of the ground as three Orv got onto all fours and began to follow them. She glanced over her shoulder and found the group following her merrily.Well, having them nearby can’t hurt.Aphrodite returned her attention to the path.
Rexna’s scans came from Grooug, but the hunter was already long past the area. They were getting strange activity from the ground but there weren’t any caverns or noticeable underground tunnels there. As they came upon the area where the scans were lighting up, it was a field of purple…Mushrooms.Aphrodite eyed them as Buddy scanned over the ground with his grid. Rexna eyed the data pad with a pensive look.
The item in question had a thick, squiggly stalk with a purple mushroom top. There were darker purple spots and orange veins lining the underside of the cap. They shivered as Aphrodite stepped closer. Dropping to a knee, she poked one with her armored finger.
“Zhaba Muscaria.” The red Orv stood up on their hind legs and wobbled toward the mushroom items in question.
“Why are they moving?” Aphrodite poked around, finding the caps solid. They shivered harder the more she prodded.
“They feed the planet, Mphronatch.” Rexna crouched beside her to show the data pad. “They are like trees to oxygen, but they provide the breathing atmosphere here for the Orv and nutrients for the earth.”
“So, they’re just? Mushroom tree things?” Aphrodite cocked a brow.
“Sure?” Rexna shrugged.
Aphrodite glanced at her new Orv friends. “Do you mind if we take a few back, just to see why they’re setting off weird signals?”
“Of course! Zhaba grow all over the planet.” The yellow Orv waddled to the patch before dropping down and scooping up a bundle of them. They ripped out of the ground with long, white roots that thrashed about for a moment before going still. The orange Orv took one from the bundle, snapped off the roots and popped the whole mushroom in their gapping maw. The yellow spoke again, “Edible Zhaba. Good for you.”
“I’ll, uh, take that into consideration. But not the roots though?” Aphrodite took the bundle from the yellow Orv.
“Roots fight going down, not worth the hassle.” The red nodded, the other parroting their words.
“Got it, thanks.” Aphrodite held the bouquet of mushrooms with their drooping roots and stood up. “We’re going to return to the ship. Thank you for talking with us.”
“Many good nights, Mphronatch!” The Orv waved widely before they all took up a mushroom, popped it into their mouths, and slunk off.
Aphrodite and Rexna studied the bundle in her hands. They shared a confused but amused glance before heading back to the ship. The more Aphrodite studied them, the more intriguing they looked. Their roots had little hairs that sprouted off of them. As she inspected them, their roots tried to wrap around her wrist, the little hairs sliding around her armor.Looking for dirt to grow into.The stalks themselves were firm and bouncy at the same time, she didn’t have to worry about breaking them in her grip.Floppy like rubber. The ship came into view and Jruc, the crab drone, scuttled down the ramp. As they closed the distance the drone floated up in the air and bobbed alongside Buddy.
“Anything?” Kern asked as he followed them into the cargo hold.
“Just some weird fungi,” Aphrodite giggled as she wiggled it at him.
“What are you doing with it?”
“Don’t know yet.”
An hour later, after a researcher cut one open and they all surrounded the fungi, they were no closer to figuring out anything. That’s when one of the researchers said, “Etic.”
Aphrodite watched them pop the cap of the mushroom into their mouth. The rest took conservative chunks of mushrooms and popped it into their mouths. She was hesitant, watching the scientists around her chewing happily. Then Rexna offered her a cube of mushroom.
“What does ‘Etic’ mean?” Aphrodite asked, squishing the mushroom bit between her fingers.
“I believe it’s a spicy word for humans,” Rexna laughed nervously.
