Chapter 5

As Jeff got out he found the view absolutely breathtaking.

The suits had landed on a plateau. Resting against the mountainside it stretched for several miles, sloping slightly downwards toward a valley, offering him an unhindered view of its slope all the way down. And looking down that slope he could see what looked to be small clusters of forests spread out in patches surrounded by all sorts of greenery.

But as he got out his field glasses he realized that it was the distance deceiving him. After being on the ship, and after that in his suit, he found that he once more had to adapt to the freedom of a 'real space' on a real world. And this world, this world was so much bigger than anything he ever had seen. Not that he had that much to compare it to, for he spent the most of his life living inside protected settlements. The small forests, when studied through the field glasses, were so much more than mere patches, they were mighty. And the valley had to stretch an awfully long way, he guessed, as he studied them.

The perimeter was as Royal had stated, clearly marked by the tripods, and also by the combined sonic and electromagnetic barrier created by them, effectively stopping any wild life. It seemed to heat the air as it worked, giving Jeff much the same visual effect as a very hot day might create, hot air dancing on the tarmac.

"Oh, Jeff, what a sight." He heard Janelle sigh.

She looked out from his Tri-D, seeing much the same as him, but she missed the intense fresh smell that had hit Jeff from the first moment he stepped outside. It was so unlike anything he ever had met, at the same time as it somehow felt very familiar.

He had no idea, but to us it should have been instantly recognizable, in fact very similar to what you feel just after that rain, the ozone suffused in the atmosphere. And although he felt a little heavier, the oxygen concentration was well over normal, giving him a slightly light headed feeling of wellbeing and happiness. Not that he needed it, just being outside felt exhilarating enough

"Yes." he agreed. "Incredible, is this what Earth looks like?"

"Once it must have, and maybe some few places still do?" Janelle answered, sounding slightly uncertain.

Earth had been used, reused, and overused by so many cycles now that only the very richest could afford restoring it, and the costs for doing so was more than astronomical. But she had visited the late king's palace once, and the view here reminded her of that, but only if you magnified the other by a thousand.

"I wish I could come out with you." He heard her sigh longingly.

"Could you at least pick some of those flowers?"

"Any specific ones you want?"

"Yes, I would like a closer look at those red ones, the ones with the purple petals."

As he started to walk to them Royal came online again.

"Please do not pick anything just yet, Jeff, sorry, Janelle. We have analyzed the flora, and even though our first estimate is that they do not expose any threat, they present most unusual characteristics and gene patterns. We are still trying to build up a knowledge base about those."

"Royal, how can you be so insensitive." Janelle complained, half jokingly, half serious. "First you refuse to let me out, and now you refuse me my flowers too?"

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, our results from the preliminary tests are inconclusive, but we can't exclude the possibility of them being sentient."

"Sentient flowers?"

Jeff exclaimed as he stopped dead in his tracks. He had almost stepped on one, but now he gave it a respectful distance as he walked around it.

"Are you joking, Royal?" Janelle asked.

"No, Ma'am, there is a rudimentary nervous system, and also we have spotted clear reactions to sensorial input."

"Shouldn't you have told me that before I went out, Royal?" Jeff asked, a little irritated.

"Sorry, Jeff, we're doing further tests as we speak, this is just a preliminary precaution. There have been no signs of them communicating, nor of any cognitive capacity."

"So they're not the masters of the planet, then?" Jeff asked half in jest.

"No." Was the curt answer from Royal.

Jeff sat down on the grass, it felt like grass and looked like grass, darker than what he had seen in the ship's garden but grass all the same, to take a closer look at the flowers. They were fairly big, half his size, and had delicate purple petals with a network of thinner green and brown veins decorating them.

The flower itself was a dark red, changing to an almost dark blue color inside its cup at the bottom. And it smelled, the smell was more of the one he had felt from that meat-eating flower Janelle's mother had picked, though, a sweet sort of pungent reek reminding him of meat gone bad. He moved away from it slightly as he described it to Janelle.

"A meat-eater." Janelle commented, feeling quite sure.

"Sorry, Ma'am, we're still examining, highly possible, though." Royal answered.

"Any insects found in them?"

"No, Ma'am, and we exterminated all life inside the perimeter before allowing Jeff out. We are still in the preliminary stages."

That was standard procedure when landing in an unknown environment, as Janelle well knew, whose interest had peaked quite a bit listening to Jeff's fastidious descriptions. She found herself wanting to go out, to see for herself, and suddenly she found the wrap just as unbearable as Jeff.

"Royal, I want out."

"Ma'am, we still don't know..."

"Now, Royal!"

"If Jeff can, I can, Royal, and I'll be good. Don't argue, let me out."

As Jeff looked back he could see the wrap move and then Janelle coming out. He was quite impressed by her audacity, somehow he had started to feel as if the suits were the ones commanding here, but once more he was reminded of in whose hands the real power rested.

But as he thought about her snoring he relaxed, she was just as human as him.

As she came out she went to sit down beside him, wrinkling her pert nose as she carefully sniffed, staying a safe distance from the flower.

"Ouch, you're right, Jeff, smelly thing, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

Having her so near him, and being on a real planet instead of locked inside a suit, made him feel so much better. Better than he had done in, well, as in forever? He looked at her, her lithe sweet body leaning so close to him as she inspected the flower. All thoughts disappearing into an eternal moment of vibrantly being alive, breathing in the sweet scent of her kneeling beside him.

The flowers, on their side, just started to do their job.

The planet was now examining their cellular structure, finding it carbon based. As Jeff had touched the flowers stem, microtubes some thousand micrometers in diameter, had taken samples of both his cells and his blood, then breaking it down into its compounds.

Carbon based life was no news to the planet, after all, that was what it used, too. It was common to many galaxies, and 'SpaceTimes'. But there were other life forms existing too, using other combinations of elements.

As the planet started to search through its collective memory, it found several bubbles answering to its general description, but it needed to narrow it down further. While it cogitated over how it would take the next step, Janelle and Jeff shared turns looking through the field glasses, admiring the valley. It looked so inviting and calm to Janelle, with its sprinkles of green shades, sprinkled with small gleaming clear-blue lakes.

She needed to explore.

"Royal, how long until we can move down?"

"Please, Ma'am. Your Highness knows very well that our protocols won't allow us that before securing the situation." Royal protested.

Janelle could understand the Royal's reasoning, she also knew the protocol's demands in a situation like this. But working against it was her desperate need for an exploratory effort. And maybe an opportunity to think about something else than her parents and all those other unfortunates in the ship.