Xenophobia - Chapter 23

    As dawn broke the following cycle, Darrian settled into his place at the conference table.
    He was the last one to arrive.
    "I know some of you may be itching to review the new information from Mars." the old judge said after the initial greetings had been exchanged and the meeting begun. "You'll be happy to know that Harris has already queued up a wealth for us."
    Darrian appraised the old judge with unease. Something about the robot seemed almost happy this morning. Perhaps it was another learned emotion, meant to lighten the mood given the harshness of the last cycle.
    But still...
    "Have we heard anything back from Jin'thun?" Ugul asked quickly.
    "We have not." the judge confirmed.
    Perhaps Darrian was imagining it. Adding just some imagined level of villainy. But it sounded like the old judge was just a little too elated when he said that.
    The table groaned and muttered to each other. Discussions about whether or not the Gorderians would make it in time to save the humans were clearly heard around the table.
    The old judge quickly rapped on the table.
    "Enough." he said shortly. "Now, we have a hologram stream sent in from the analytics team. It would seem that the humans on Mars are alive. In a manner of speaking."
    "What does that mean?" Ferris asked with a bit too much anger in his tone.
    The old judge either didn't hear Ferris or simply chose to ignore him. He quickly tapped the screen of his datapad and the familiar scene of the lab appeared from the holographic imager.
    It only took a moment before someone asked.
    "What the...hell? What happened?!" A'alan't 32 said, shooting up from her spot.
    The scene in front of them, despite being the same viewpoint as the cycle before, was drastically different. Previously, there had been a clean, well-kept lab environment filled to the brim with shiny tools, smooth surfaces, and humans in safety attire working diligently. Now, it was as if the lab had been overgrown by a rain forest.
    A strange, humid mist seemed to hand in the air of the lab environment. Heavy, plantlike growths seemed to have covered the walls, floor, and even shrouded the large viewport window that looked in on the surgical theater. The room was dark, with the plant growths covering the fluorescent lights, but Darrian could clearly make out some kind of gooey ichor dripping from the ceilings above and little speckles of green and brown floating about in the mist.
    "It would seem," the old judge said coolly, "that there were some interesting side effects from the humans interacting with the Guillae."
    Darrian felt his throat tightening. All he could do was stare at the image. It was so drastically different than he'd seen the cycle before. He was in too much shock to do anything else.
    Around the table, many of the other ambassadors seemed to be going through the same thing.
    "I-I don't understand." Illiquina stammered. "What happened to the humans?! You said they were alive!"
    "In a manner of speaking." the old judge echoed
    As if on cue, Darrian noticed movement to one side of the hologram. A large trunklike section of one of the plants taking over the surgical theater seemed to thrum and move a little. It seemed to bulge and throb as if there were something moving about inside it.
    It moved like this for several moments before one of the bulges seemed to grew too far. A palm and five digits, which everyone readily recognized as the five-fingered hand of a human, was pushing against the membrane from inside the plant itself.
    The flesh of the plant gave and gave and then tore, letting out a moist, squelching sound as it ripped open. A spray of green and brown burst freely into the already heavy air of the lab and the human that was trapped inside the plant cocoon pulled itself free.
    That's right. Darrian thought. It was a cocoon.
    For the human that freed itself from the plant was not like any he'd seen in studying earth. Standing before the camera nude, she still resembled a human female. Her eyes were dark, sunken in, and the normal white of the sclera was a cavalcade of blood red and algae green. Her flesh: a palid, lighter tone now showed all of the veins and arteries that crisscrossed beneath. All of them ran deep, emerald green. Her body appeared soft and voluptuous by human standards, yet closer examination revealed that her flesh had taken on a strange solidity; as if she were covered by a hard shell.
    The most disturbing for Darrian however was the expression.
    Vacant. Hollow. Empty.
    Her eyes and her face seemed to display no intelligence or range of emotion; almost as if she were a walking corpse.
    "What...happened?" Ugul asked.
    The old judge seemed just as transfixed with the images as the other ambassadors. While he didn't look quite as horrified, there was no fabricated joy on his face now.
    Darrian didn't know if the old judge expected this kind of imagery, but he definitely didn't appear to be enjoying it either.
    "Isn't it obvious?" the old judge said. "Just as I said before: there would be interesting side effects from these two species interacting..."
    No one dared say anything more for a long while. What was there to say? No one could change what had happened. What WAS happening. No one even knew it was GOING to happen. Yet here they were with front row seats.
    And there she stood. Silent. Just standing there staring off into nothingness.
    That is, until a scream echoed somewhere offscreen and, in an instant flurry of violence and speed, the modified human shot off after the noise.

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Xenophobia - Chapter 18 (Rewrite!)

    The council sat in eerie silence, watching the image on the hologram. Before them was an operating table with the body of a Guillae sprawled out atop it. Its torso had been opened up and tools were scattered all around it.
    Despite being mid autopsy, no one could be seen attending to the body.
    "What do you think is happening?" asked Ferris quietly.
    Darrian glanced over at him, shook his head, and gave a non-committal shrug before returning his attention to the nearly still image. If it weren't for the blinking lights of a nearby computer console, he'd have thought that the holographic imager had frozen.
    When the Guillae had been taken to the laboratory, the analytics team had acted with surprising fervor. Through some skillful infiltration of the humans' technology, the team had managed to gain control of a camera on one of the personal computers within the lab. All before the first incision had been made.
    It had been very risky, but none of the humans had noticed. They were too preoccupied with the discovery of life outside of their own.
    At first, the lab had been a hive of activity. At least four humans in full protective gear were seen working on the body at any given time. Another dozen could be seen behind the protective interference of a viewfinder that overlooked the operating table. For hours, the council watched and waited.
    The human scientists worked diligently. They slowly began to dissect the long dead Guillae which, to Darrian's surprise, was incredibly well preserved. His guess was that it probably related to the atmosphere of Mars.
    Piece by piece, they would make an incision and investigate what they found. Countless samples were removed. Notes were taken vocally to the computer system as well as by two other humans, one inside and one outside of the lab. They had catalogued at least a hundred or so samples when they found what the council had been waiting for.
    Darrian knew it was a learned behavior, but it didn't make it anymore shocked when he heard the old judge gasp.
    The main scientist slowly and smoothly drew out a long, podlike object from the body of the dead Guillae. It was about a meter long and a half meter wide and reminded him of the samples of "Soy Beans" that the analytics team had sent them from Earth. One of the humans made the same observation but qualified it as being "fuckin' huge". Some of the humans laughed while others chastised him.
    Slowly, carefully, one of the scientists took the pod away somewhere off camera. Darrian could hear a door open and close. A moment later, there was a shout from that same direction and all of the humans looked up. Some of them looked confused, others scared at what they saw. Very quickly, all of them disappeared off screen. All of them running towards where the pod had been taken.
    That had been at least an hour ago.
    The council waited patiently for something to change. They had heard nothing except a clatter of metal about twenty minutes before. Except for that and the blinking lights, the image was seemingly static.
    It would seem that Harris felt the same way.
    As if on cue, the image of the laboratory and the dead Guillae dissolved. It was replaced by Harris' form. To everyone's surprise, he was lounging with the face plate to his robotic exosuit wide open. He looked utterly exhausted.
    "I don't think there's much more to see." he said to the old judge.
    "I agree. Update us when you have more, Captain."
    Harris gave a nod but said nothing else. They could seem him enter a sequence on his control panel before the holographic image disappeared entirely.
    The table sat in silence for another several minutes, digesting what they had seen and what might be happening. No one knew what to say. While they hadn't seen anything "bad" per say, the last images they'd seen of the humans left an uneasy feeling in their guts. Darrian's discussion with A'alan't 32 and the old judge still rang fresh in his mind.
    This could be an exciting learning opportunity. he remembered again for the thousandth time.
    "Well..." said the old judge with a mechanical sigh. "I don't believe there is anything else that we can cover today. If you would, I would like to reconvene-"
    The door of the meeting room slid open as the old judge tried to wrap up the meeting. Many of them didn't bother looking up. They were frankly too tired. It wasn't until the old judge stopped what he was staying and stared at the person who had walked in that Darrian glanced over.
    Jin'thun.
    The heavy set, furry Gorderian made his way towards his spot at the council table. The exhaustion and fear in the room quickly gave way to shock and awe as everyone turned their attention to the long-missing ambassador.
    For a moment, no one said anything. And then, everyone started speaking at once.
    "What did they say?" demanded Ferris.
    "They s-"
    "Where have you been?!" asked Ugul.
    "If you-"
    "What took you so long?" chided A'alan't 32.
    "It was-"
    "Are they going to-" Darrian begin to ask when the old judge bellowed over all of them.
    "ENOUGH!"
    The table fell silent as Jin'thun, looking quite ruffled and annoyed, straightened himself out. The old judge smiled softly.
    "I see you've returned." the old judge said quietly. "It's good to have you back."
    "Thank y-"
    "Yea. Took you long enough." grumbled Cagool.
    Jin'thun jumped from his place and let out a bellowing, threatening roar right in Cagool's face. The slimy little Yool squeaked and looked as if he was attempting to crawl inside himself to get away from the Gorderian's ferocity. He was still quivering when Jin'thun settled back down.
    "Thank you, judge." he finally said, giving everyone a threatening look as he did; as if daring them to try his patience further.
    "Now," he continued, "I come with the results of your plea to my government."
    "And what have the Gorderians decided, Jin'thun?" asked the old judge.
    Jin'thun threw Cagool one more threatening glance, however the Yool was still shaking from his last misstep.
    "The Gorderians will be sending aid to the humans."
    The room let out a collective sigh and Darrian could even hear Ferris let out a quiet "Yes!" under his breath. Everyone looked relieved.
    "That's wonderful, Jin'thun. Your government has our sincerest gratitude."
    "Yes, of c-"
    A loud beeping filled the room as the old judge's datapad began to flash. A priority one message.
    Quickly, he tapped the message and the holographic imager once more glew with life. Harris could be seen once again but this time he looked a great deal more frazzled then before.
    "Harris?" the old judge asked. "What is it?"
    "The Tulgucks." Harris said with barely contained panic. "The Tulgucks are here! They've entered the solar system!"

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(Hello Lovelies. I do hope that you enjoyed the re-write of Chapter 18. As I mentioned before, I have no intent of making this a regular habit (with the exception of when I do my official editing for the book release) but I felt Chapter 18 was a special exception. I hope you are all doing well and enjoyed the slight alteration compared to the first time it came out.)

Xenophobia - Chapter 18

    "What do you think is happening?" asked Ferris.
    Darrian looked over at him and shrugged before returning his gaze to the hologram over the conference table. Before him floated the image of the long dead Guillae that lay quietly on a cold metal operating table.
    Through some skillful infiltration of the humans' technology, the analytics' team had managed to gain control of a camera on one of the personal computers within the laboratory environment. It had been risky, but none of the humans had noticed. They were too preoccupied with their discovery.
    At first, the laboratory the humans brought the Guillae to had been a hive of activity. At least a dozen humans could be seen milling about at any given time while four others operated carefully on the body. For hours, the council watched as the human scientists dissected, examined, and catalogued the specimen carefully.
    Finally, the main scientist extracted a long slender object from the Guillae that Darrian felt positive was a seed pod based on its appearance. The scientist had fled in excitement somewhere off camera. He was just as quickly followed by everyone else in the surgical theater.
    That had been over an hour ago.
    The council waited patiently. Watching. They listened for any sounds or watched for any movement, but nothing came.
    As time passed, Darrian felt more uneasy. What was happening behind closed doors? While the analytics team had been good, there were inherent risks to infiltrating the human systems and it was even more dangerous to try and hop around until they found anything. They simply couldn't risk looking around further.
    It would seem that Harris felt the same.
    As if on cue, the image of the laboratory blanked out in favor of Harris' form. He was lounging with the face plate of his robotic exosuit wide open and looked exhausted.
    "Update us when you have more, Captain." said the old judge placidly.
    "Of course." groaned Harris, who entered a sequence on his control panel before the image disappeared completely.
    It was hardly proper protocol, but Darrian didn't feel like he could blame Harris. He looked like Darrian felt at this point.
    The table sat in silence for several minutes. No one knew what to say. While they certainly hadn't seen anything bad, they had all been left with an uneasy feeling about what was happening on Mars. It didn't help that they'd been in the meeting far longer than intended.
    "Well..." said the old judge with a mechanical sigh. "I don't believe there is anything else we can cover today-"
    The door of the meeting room slid open, grabbing the attention of some of the over-tired councilors. They looked over with dreary interest until they saw who it was.
    Jin'thun.
    Darrian sat straight up and many of the councilors looked at him agape with awe.
    "I see you've returned." said the old judge, nonplussed.
    A wave of annoyance passed over the Gorderian ambassador's features, but he quickly made his way towards his place at the table. All at once, the table exploded in a buzz of questions and excitement.
    "I have-" started Jin'thun.
    "What did they say?" demanded Ferris.
    "If you-"
    "Where have you been?!" asked Ugul.
    "Look-"
    "Enough!" snapped the old judge, bellowing over the noise.
    The table fell silent except for Jin'thun who sat there, his eyes closed and a deep guttural growl emanating from his throat.
    "Thank y-"
    "Took you long enough." grumbled Cagool incredulous.
    Jin'thun let forth a bellowing roar in Cagool's face and jumped from his seat. Many of the other councilors recoiled and Darrian felt surprised that the Gorderian hadn't taken a swing at the Yool right there.
    "Now." growled Jin'thun, looking around the table as if daring someone else to interrupt him. "I come with the results of your plea."
    "And what has the Gorderian government decided upon, Jin'thun?"
    The ambassador eyed Cagool menacingly but the Yool simply shuddered where he sat.
    "We will be sending aid to the humans."

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Xenophobia - Chapter 15

   "I...I don't understand." stammered Cherryl from her place at the table. "How can they have found a G-Guillae?"
    "I concur." agreed the old judge. "The Guillae vacated that planet dozens of rotations ago."
    "Indeed they did." confirmed Harris. "But all the same, the humans have recovered one."
    "Alive or dead?" asked Darrian in utter confusion.
    "Are you kidding me?" snapped Cagool. "That thing has been there for who knows how many rotations. Alone. Under the ground from how it sounds. Why would you think it's alive?"
    Harris cast a sidelong glance at Cagool before responding. "It's certainly dead."
    "W-well that's good news." said Cherryl looking notably relieved.
    "No. It's not." said Harris and the old judge seemingly simultaneously.
    "It's not?"
    "No." confirmed the old judge.
    Cherryl looked like she had more to ask, but quickly reconsidered as the old judge and Harris turned their attention back to each other.
    "Sir. Is it normal for Guillae to leave one of theirs behind like this?"
    The old judge shook his head.
    "I'm not completely sure. It's been an exceptionally long time since the Consortium had any interaction with the Guillae. Likewise, as a general rule we never authorize colonization of old Guillae planets. Researchers rarely favor such locations either."
    "So this could be a norm?" questioned Harris.
    "We simply don't know."
    "Why are we even discussing this?" groaned Cagool. "Who really cares?"
    The old judge flashed Cagool a threatening glance before responding.
    "Do you know anything about the Guillae, Cagool?" he said.
    "Nothing more than you've told us before. Plant people. Like to eat planets. That sort of thing."
    "I also mentioned that they travel together in a great cluster. A spore." explained the old judge. "Because of this, or maybe it's the other way around, the Guillae have a number of innate capabilities."
    "Capabilities?" questioned Darrian.
    "Well, for one, the Guillae are linked to one another. Each Guillae is connected to all of the others. Think of it almost like a hive mind, not unlike insects..."
    "Or a flora-network." added A'alan't 32. "Like roots or a forest."
    "Precisely." agreed the old judge. "It functions even across deep space."
    "While creepy to think about, I ask again, who cares?" said Cagool. "It's dead."
    "That brings us nicely to their other capability. Just one Guillae can repopulate an entire planet. One. Dead. Guillae."
    "You can't be serious!"
    "No. He's right." confirmed A'alan't 32. "I've been studying them on my down time. Not unlike some plants, Guillae essentially convert to giant seed spores upon death. Their only purpose is to sprout when exposed to water."
    The old judge nodded in agreement before turning his attention back to Harris.
    "Thank you, Harris." he said with a nod. "Is there anything else?"
    "Uhm...no, Sir."
    As the old judge reached down to turn off the holographic imager, Harris spoke up.
    "Actually, a moment, Sir."
    "Harris?"
    "Should we...do something about this?"
    "No."
    There was excitement and confusion as whispers littered the table.
    "Of course, Sir."
    "Keep us up to date when the Guillae spores."
    "I will."
    With that, Harris terminated the transmission and the old judge sighed. Darrian found the action peculiar for a robot. But with the number of other peculiar learned programming the old judge had demonstrated, this was hardly the strangest.
    "So we're not doing anything about this?" asked A'alan't 32.
    "We must maintain the quarantine." said the old judge. "We would need to discuss the matter with the Consortium before we could take any true action."
    "But what if they accidentally spawn more Guillae. More live Guillae?" demanded Darrian.
    "When the humans do, we will wait and watch to see what happens. This could prove to be an exciting learning opportunity."

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Six Word Story - 05.05.16

"Her garden kept growing without her."

The Barren Pot

    Long ago, in a kingdom all but forgotten by the passage of time, there lived a young child. Now this child was neither strong nor fast. They were not smart or savvy. They were just a child like any other who was born of a mother and a father who worked hard for what they had and cared deeply for their child.

    At the same time, there lived a King. He was well known for being cunning and clever and always finding a way to turn the worst situation into the best. He had ruled the kingdom for many years. While some thought ill of him and others held deep love, the one thing everyone agreed on was that he was an honest King. A man of the people who always spoke his mind and told his citizens the truth of what was going on; for better or for worse.

    But, clever or kind, honest or not, the one thing a great King cannot escape; nay! What no man, woman, or child can escape is the passage of time.

    The King had become quite old over the years. A handsome brown beard had become wispy and white. Burning eyes that watched the court’s every movement had become clouded and grey. The oak that had stood tall bowed to the wind and the rain.

    Sadly, the King had never married.

    Some say he had loved in his youth but lost her before gaining the crown. Others believed that he was always simply too busy to seek a wife to sire him an heir. Whatever the reason, the King held no heir. No person to take the crown in the approaching date of his death.

    Now what might this have to do with our young child, you ask? Just listen, and you will see.

    The child, while doing their chores, heard an announcement from one of the King’s men.

    “All who wish for a chance at the crown, make way to the court!” the man bellowed.

    How odd. The child thought. How peculiar indeed.

    Now, the child held little interest in the matters of court, but their mother and father, who worked so hard and so long for their place in life, wanted more. They rushed to the court with the young child in tow.

    “No pushing! No shoving!” shouted a man at the gates. “You’ll all get your turn.”

    And they did. Man, woman, and child were paraded through the court like show ponies before the old King and the guards in shining armor. Some ladies danced and sung to demonstrate their prowess while men showed off their great muscles and their swordsmanship. But it was never enough for the King…

    What did he want? The child wondered.

    Dozens of people were turned away.

    Then hundreds.

    After thousands of people had been turned away by the King, only twenty remained before him. Our young child and nineteen other bright eyed youths.

    “You twenty are the ones I believe show the most promise.” The King said in a raspy and tired tone. “You are the ones who I believe are the best hope for this kingdom. The best hope to take my throne…”

    The guards produced a table from beneath a heavy cloth. On this table, twenty clay pots rested quietly in two rows. Off to the side, a single glass bowl held a number of little seeds.

    “While I think you all have potential, the crown fits only one.” The King went on to say. “And so I will give you all a task.”

    With a wave of his wrinkled, shaking hand, the King motioned towards the pots and the seeds.

    “You will each take one pot and one seed. You will be given two months to grow that which you can from that which you are given.”

    The crowd gasped aloud.

    “You mean to tell me you leave our lives in the hands of gardeners?” a man shouted in anger from the court.

    The King did not respond.

    “In two months’ time, you will return with your pot and your seed and whatever has come of it. I’m curious to see what great and tall plants will come of this endeavor.”

    And so the young child, along with nineteen other youths, were given a pot and a seed and sent on their way.

    At first, the child was hopeful. They planted the seed right away and cared for it carefully. They watered it and fertilized it and let the pot rest in sun and in shade, just in case the plant needed either. They spent every waking hour watching the pot, waiting for the first sprout to show.

    But, after several days, nothing…

    “I’m sure it’s just taking a while.” The young child’s mother said.

    And so they kept trying. Soon, days turned to weeks and still nothing.

    “Perhaps the seed is bad.” The young child’s father said. “If only we knew what type of plant it was so we might replant it.”

    The young child said nothing. Instead, they went for a walk through the village to look at the other plants that the children were growing.

    It wasn’t long before the child reached his nearest neighbor and saw the beautiful morning glory flowers that were blooming from the pot. In weeks it was already vining and budding.

    Oh no! Look at that flower! It’s gorgeous already!

    They continued on to the next house where they saw the next pot. To the child’s surprise, a red rose was growing out of the pot!

    A rose? But the last flower was a morning glory…

    Entranced, the young child continued on. In the walk, they saw five morning glories, four roses, six petunias, three snapdragons, and one lily.

    Returning home, they looked down at the barren empty pot and smiled with realization.

    Soon, two months had passed and the children once again stood in the King’s court with their pots in hand. Everyone laughed and singed and pointed at the gorgeous flowers that every youth held. Everyone had a beautiful flower except the young child. Their pot was still empty.

    Many people pointed and laughed and mocked the child but they remained quiet.

    “A gorgeous morning glory.” The King said to the first child as he called them up to show what had grown. “Truly you have a knack for this kind of work. Step back until I make my decision.”

    “What a beautiful rose.” The King said to the next child. “Hold there until a decision has been made.”

    It continued like this one by one. Praises and compliments and standing ovations for the gorgeous plants each youth held. Until finally, the King reached the young child who stood before him with their barren pot.

    “And you, child. Your pot is empty. You are surrounded by beauty and fairness by all the other competitors. Why do you approach me today.”

    “B-b-because, your M-majesty. You wanted to see what came of this endeavor and you have seen it.”

    “That I have.” The King said, a joy slipping into his cracking old voice.

    “We have our new sovereign!” the King declared to the shocked gasps and guffaws of the court. “And my heir!”

    “But how?!” cried the parent of one of the children. “My boy’s rose is the most beautiful here and that child has nothing in their pot!”

    “And that is why.” The King said with a smile. “For they are the only one to have nothing in their pot.”

    The court felt silent at this.

    “Tell me, sir.” The King said to the parent’s youth. “Where did you get your rose seed?”

    The youth hung their head in shame. “My parents, your Majesty.”

    “And you?” he asked another.

    “The gardener.” She said with tears in her eyes.

    The same repeated another seventeen times, one by one, as the King revealed how every child or parent had planted new seeds when they realized the seed they had was barren. The young child, neither cunning nor witty, but honest, was the only one who did not cheat in hopes of winning the contest.

    “And you, child” the King said, “Where did you get your seed.”

    “Your Majesty, the King.”

    Before a shocked crowd and a gaping court, the child and their parents were raised up before the other men and women in the room to join the King at his side. Over the years, he taught the child everything he knew and, far too soon, faded with time. But the child, now strong and smart from the great King’s tutelage, went on to become one of the greatest Lieges the kingdom had ever known, always remembering the lessons the King had taught them.

(Please note that most will realize this is not an original story. Instead, this is a story inspired by an old Chinese Folk story “The Empty Pot (An Owlet Book)”. Obviously this is my take on the idea with my own adages and a European spin, however I cannot take any credit for the tale itself and do not wish to. Instead I hope that you enjoyed.)