Chapter 31: Mushrooms

The third humanoid planet is similar to the green planet in the Black Sack system. Remember Buzzy and the infanticide bloody sacrifice religion Mark accidentally initiated? This third humanoid populated but PLUS ruled planet has a similar terrain to that green world. A world largely covered in jungles with rivers in countless confusion.

The humanoids don’t much resemble humans, but resemble more the sensationalist imaginary egg head fanciful caricatures of flying saucer crews. Tiny bodies, huge bald heads and large dark eyes. Except the eyes aren’t large.

These humanoids have the huge bald heads and thousands of tiny eyes. Their heads resemble mushroom caps, and where the gills are on mushrooms, is a ring, actually several concentric rings, of little eyes. The tiny bodies are in sync with the UFO alien’s depictions.

Their culture is strange a mix of technology and primitivism. They fly rotary wing aircraft but live in grass huts on stilts along river banks. Communications has been unsuccessful so far.

We located a spaceport of sorts. A PLUS shuttle craft is loading cargo there in that jungle clearing. A PLUS freighter waits in orbit. This planet is the source of the hallucinatory drugs the PLUS trade to the Merfolk in exchange for helium. The unprocessed drug in it’s raw state, is bales of vegetation, very resinous and very flammable.

Rendering myself invisible, with a capacious oxygen tank on my back to supply my human brain’s needs over a long duration, I easily manage to sneak aboard. A portable but high decibel sound system is also carried.

If we can’t preach rebellion, maybe we can incite rebellion by creating incidents. Black flag attacks on the natives, and apparent sabotage of the PLUS ships, framing the natives as the saboteurs.

The PLUS adore classical music and hate everything else. These mushroom headed natives like heavy acid rock. Maybe that’s appropriate. The drug they raise for the PLUS has a few general similarities to cannabis. And there were mushroom consuming hippies back in those psychedelic culture days. A different definition of mushroom heads. Anybody who smoked pot and acted cool was called a “head”. Stores that sold drug paraphernalia like bongs and hookahs as well as scented candles and incense to disguise the pot smoke odor, were referred to as head shops.

The mushroom heads on this planet aren’t wearing beads and flowers. Not protesting or marching for peace. They do wear sandals and serape type robes. They march in bearing bales of the drug plant into the hold of the shuttle craft. They emerge again emptyhanded.

Playing acid rock for them, livens their step. Almost dancing in and out of the shuttles hold. The shuttle pilot is not amused.

“Shut off that racket! Knock off frivolous dancing. Work! March! Act serious about your jobs. Stop that nerve wracking noise now!”

This is broadcast over a loudspeaker public address system in the PLUS language. Responding in the same language over my PA”

“Fuck off, you big fat zero. All PLUS are really minuses, plus nothing, just zeros. We dance if and when we want to, and we rock around the clock if we want to. Turn the volume up to maximum. (Done) Any more complaints from you asshole, we go on strike, and your ship will never be loaded. Just one more squeak from you, and we walk off the job.”

“You little fungi mycogen bastards will pay for this.”

Nothing more was said by me, just the heavy beat music played on, but every mushroom head tossed aside their bale and marched away. The shuttle pilot lost it.

“You rebellious scum! I’ll teach you your place. I’ll burn your villages to the ground. There are other communities to provide the identical cargo. You are despensable. Die you little parasite freaks!”

Already aboard, I’m relaxed waiting for the pilot to return to the mothership. Unfortunately, he kept his promise to torch several villages during departure. Arriving at the mothership, the cargo was blasted into the mothership’s hold by the air pressure in the shuttle’s hold. The cargo door suddenly opened and I along with the drug bales, was carried in the violent wind into the mothership.