Copyright© 2004

"No response to the hail, Captain." Bill, eager to repeat our success with the planet Eden, had begun hailing CM21020225-1 as soon as the Folder dumped us on the outskirts of the system.

We had already come up dry on the first two systems along it's planned trajectory, neither giving any clue as to whether CM21020225-1 had ever been there. Orbital surveys, however, seemed to indicate that those systems had planets that would be pretty inhospitable to humans, so we continued on as the crew of the CM must have done.

Every day, for the month and a half it took to approach the orbit of the most likely planet, Bill and Mary, the ship's AI, hailed and scanned for signals with no result. As we neared the planet, however, scanners showed an object in low orbit around it.

Sure enough, the CM module, apparently dead except for its orbit stabilization systems, circled the planet. The external cargo framework was empty, so we assumed that the colonists had at least tried to make a go of it here. Surface scans showed no signs human occupation, however. No buildings, factories, or electronic signals could be detected. The planet was teeming with life, but from orbit, it was difficult to determine what that life consisted of.

The team I sent to check on the CM reported that while the colonists had apparently left in good order, the condition in which they left the orbiter seemed to indicate that they had no intention of returning.

I sent a couple of AI probes to the surface, and while they reported lush vegetation and abundant wildlife, they could detect neither humans nor dangerous predators. Meanwhile, from orbit, we detected a large concentration of metal at one point on the surface, whose mass was consistent with that of two shuttles like those carried on the colonization missions.

Determined to find out what happened to these people, I suited up and went down with the survey team, landing in the sparsely vegetated area where the sensors had told us the shuttles might be. Sure enough, as my skin tingled from the bio-shield and I made my way down the ramp I could see the crumbling remains of what were, unmistakably, CM shuttles.

There was steam rising from the scorching our shuttle's retro thrusters gave the sparse vegetation, but it dissipated quickly. I had just stepped off the ramp when a naked woman, apparently in her thirties, came running into the clearing. Hands to her cheeks, she surveyed the burned flora under the shuttle and cried, "What have you done!? Oh my god they're dead!"

Her pronunciation was a little strange, but her speech was not as unrecognizable as had been the Edenites.

"I'm sorry, ma'am!" I said placatingly, though I wasn't sure what I should be sorry about, "Should we have landed somewhere else?"

Suddenly her gaze fell on my face.

"You-you're from Earth?!" she gasped.

"Yes ma'am. I'm Captain Cecilia Barnes of the Golden Hind." I replied, "We were sent from the United Federation of Earth Aligned Planets to find out what happened to the colonial missions sent out in the 21st and 22nd centuries. I take it you are descended from the people who were on this mission?"

I waved my hand to indicate the rotting shuttles.

"No, I am Rosemary Devins." she said, with an air of disbelief, "I AM one of the people who were on this mission!"

"I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood." I said, "I thought I heard you say you were one of the people who were on the colonization mission."

"You did not misunderstand, Captain." she said, "It is a long story, and before I can tell it, I must first let Galadrak know what has happened! Please, come with me, but stay on the path!"

I left a detail to guard the shuttle, and with a small squad of Marines, followed Rosemary into the lush forest surrounding us. On the way, I signalled the ship to search the mission rolls for a Rosemary Devins. Mary, our AI, came back almost immediately with a picture and personal data. The Rosemary Devins who left earth nearly twenty centuries ago had looked, if anything, slightly older than the person before us. The pictures were identical in every other respect, down to the tiny scar on the left cheek - the remnant of a childhood accident.

We had walked about a mile and a half when one of my marines halted the column and pointed to a nearby tree. On a large root, at its base, lay a seemingly unconscious man. Roots or vines sprouted from every orifice in his body except eyes and ears. A fine network of tiny tendrils covered his head. His cock was rigid, and was made even more so by the nearly half-inch thick tendril that seemed to be still working its way into his urethra! A much larger one had invested his anus, while a similarly sized outgrowth had worked its way down his throat. Two smaller ones writhed into his nostrils. He seemed to be in absolutely no distress. In fact, as we watched, he spasmed through what I could have sworn was an orgasm!

"Sergeant!" I ordered, "Cut that man loose and get him to sick bay!"

"NO!" Rosemary screamed, "You'll kill him!"

"What are you talking about?" I said, "Can't you see that he'll die if he's left like that?"

Her head was shaking violently, and she seemed deathly afraid that the sergeant would carry out his orders.

"He's just communing with Galadrak!" She grabbed my arm, trembling, and continued, "Please! I will explain everything after I have reported to Galadrak! Just let him be! In a little while those tendrils will withdraw and he'll be as good as new!"

Skeptical, but realizing there was something at work here that was new to us, I cancelled my order and we moved out. We had gone perhaps another mile into the forest when we came to an enormous tree. Rosemary left the path, stepping carefully to avoid the patches of vegetation on the ground and caressed the worn roots of the tree.

"This is where I commune with Galadrak, Captain." She said, reclining on one of the larger roots. "Do not be alarmed at what you see. This could take a couple of hours so please, whatever you do, STAY ON THE PATH!"

As she spoke, tendrils sprouted from the root beneath her, and Rosemary sighed a blissful sigh as they invaded her body. As with the man we had seen, she seemed almost to become part of the tree. Her head, too, was covered by a fine network of fibers as her bodily orifices welcomed the woody invasion.

I ordered the sergeant in charge of the detail to post sentries while the rest of us relaxed as best we could on the well-beaten path. At one point, as I sat in the dirt, I inadvertently placed my gloved hand on the vegetation at its margin. Even through the material of the hazard suit, I could feel the plants writhing, withdrawing from the pressure of my palm. I lifted my glove to watch the last bit of green crowd in amongst its neighbors, leaving the spot where my hand had rested bare.

Four times over the course of the next hour, Rosemary's body spasmed in what I could only interpret as tremendous orgasms. I discussed it with Gail, our ship's doctor, and she agreed. Whatever the hell this communion was, the people doing it seemed to enjoy it immensely!

The troops were getting restless, and probably horny, when the tendrils finally withdrew from Rosemary's sated body. She climbed langorously down from the root and rejoined us, moving like a woman who's just left her lover.

"Galadrak wishes to commune with you, Captain!" she seemed excited about that for some reason. After what I'd witnessed, I had mixed feelings.

"Who is this Galadrak?" I asked.

"Galadrak is the planet, Captain." she replied, as if searching for words, "It is the combined life force of every living thing on this planet, with the exception of humans."

"Why not humans?" This was getting stranger every second.

"Because we are not native to this planet," Rosemary said, "we are not part of the overall consciousness. The only way we can become part of that consciousness is through communion. Once the communion ends, we are no longer in direct contact with Galadrak."

"So, what you were just doing - that was how you communicate with the planet?"

"Oh, Captain," she gushed, as if talking about a lover, "it's so much more than that! Galadrak feeds us. It gives us immeasurable pleasure, and it keeps us healthy, giving us much longer lifespans than other humans!"

I was really puzzled now. "So, how did this relationship with the planet come about?"

Rosemary's face clouded as she answered, "It took us many months to understand the true nature of this planet, and many of us died in the process. We never realized the wounds we were causing by cutting down trees to build our houses. To protect itself, Galadrak sent hordes of tiny, insect-like creatures to attack our food supplies, our buildings, even our shuttles. Funguses, corrosion, and rot attacked everything as soon as it came in contact with the planet. If we slept in a shelter at night, by morning, the shelter and all our belongings would be rotting and crumbling away. No matter what measures we used to fight the incursion, a new strain would immediately show up that was immune to our poisons or fungicides or whatever else we threw at it. The shuttles, once landed, could not take off again. We were stuck on what we thought was a hostile planet with no way out."

"So how did you come to THIS state of affairs?" I asked.

"I guess I was the first." Rosemary replied, pensively, "I was starving, my clothing, like everyone else's, had rotted away, and in my weakness, I fell behind the others as they trekked through this forest in search of a place of safety. I was tired and weak, and couldn't go on. I lay down on that root to rest, and fell asleep. As I slept, I dreamed of soft hands caressing me, and a virile lover taking me. The dream was so vivid, and so out of place, that I awoke to find myself bound up in those tendrils. I realize now, that it was Galadrak that kept me from going into panic, but at the time, I was just mildly surprised by the fact that I stayed calm. I could feel my body penetrated, but it felt SO GOOD! Whatever was down my throat was seeping something delicious into my mouth and stomach, and the sensations from... other places, were equally delicious! As my mind calmly catalogued all of this, I became aware of the presence of an enormously powerful mind. It apologized for taking me while I slept and assured me, without words, that everything would be all right. In that first communion, I learned that we had been a blight on a planet that had been, until our arrival, perfectly balanced. I also learned that, if we were to survive, we needed to become part of the planet's eco-system, instead of trying to fight it. Galadrak kept me for more than a day in that first communion, and when it released me, I was once again healthy. My appetite and thirst had been slaked, and I was, for the first time since coming to the planet, sexually satisfied."

"Galadrak had converted a number of trees within the forest for communion with us," she continued, "and my task was to convince the remaining colonists to join Galadrak instead of fighting it. Some, eager to grasp at any straw, and swayed by the change in my health since they last saw me, were easy to convince. Others, skeptics, held out until the first ones returned with tales similar to mine. A few viewed the communion process as perversion of the worst sort, and refused to try it. They died, hungry and miserable. Of the original number of twenty five hundred colonists, fewer than five hundred remained by the time we learned to co-exist with Galadrak."

"So are all the humans here original colonists?" I asked, "Have there been no children?"

"Occasionally, one of us dies by accident or some other circumstance beyond Galadrak's control." Rosemary answered, "When that happens, Galadrak allows one of us to get pregnant, but it is not done in the same way as on Earth. We do copulate with each other freely, but that never results in pregnancy - that would upset the delicate ecological balance. When Galadrak wishes to impregnate a female, it allows a male to share her communion. Semen collected from the male is processed through the communion tree and implanted in the female. Children conceived in this fashion are almost as much a part of Galadrak as the native species. They don't need communion to be in touch with Galadrak, only to tend their physical needs."

Rosemary shook herself as if suddenly remembering something. "Come, we must find your communion tree. Normally, a tree is dedicated to one being. Because of the unprecedented nature of your visit, Galadrak has modified a communion tree that was set aside for a human to be born soon. You will commune through that tree, and your knowledge will be passed on to the baby."

We started back in the direction we had come, and as we neared the edge of the forest, I noticed that the trees grew successively smaller, as if the forest grew by spreading outward. How Rosemary knew which tree to choose, I don't know, but she stopped us at the foot of a tree that, while still magnificent, would have been dwarfed by 'her' tree.