Sura's hair flushed peach with embarrassment. “S-shut u-up, Desy” Sura managed while looking down, as if she could duck out of view. Why did her roommate always manage to do this to her with just one comment?
“Oh come on Sue,” Desyre chided from the holoscreen, “you’re meant to look sexy - that's what all the expensive jewelry and makeup are for.”
“I guess.”
“Good, now tilt your wrist so I can see the goods.”
“What, no!” Sura flushed even redder as she held her wrist perfectly level with her face, trying not to smile.
“Kidding, kidding,” Desyre held up her hands in exaggerated placation, before smiling coyly, “...or am I?” When Sura didn't answer Desyre propped her head on one arm, acting as if nothing had happened as she asked, “So, how are you?”
“Harassed,” Sura stated with a smile.
“Uh huh, and how’s the place? You still haven’t shown me round you know.”
“Okay fine,” Sura pressed a control on the wrist-comp, the holoscreen flipping, showing Sura a mirror-image of Desyre, meaning that Desyre had the view ahead of Sura's wrist as she panned it over the room.
“This is the bedroom.”
“Uh huh, boring.”
“And out here is the hallway.”
“Wow - plants!”
“Oh this is nothing, just wait.” Sura reached the end of the pot-lined hallway, the narrow space opening into an immense room of sunlight and greenery. “And this is the main arboretum.”
“Main arboretum! There are others?”
“Oh yeah, and this is mostly the ordinary stuff in here. A few strains of grainvine, some experimental crossbreeds, a pair of mini walking trees… which apparently need taller pots. Damnit where've they got to… just a sec.”
“Walking trees. Ordinary. Right.”
“Aha! Damnit I’ll need to get the tongs to get them out of there again, little shits! Don’t you droop at me, you know what you did. Sorry about that. Through here are the more interesting ones.”
“More int-”
“Like these rainbow ferns.”
“Ooooh, pretty!”
“Yeah we think the bioluminescence is a kind of hunting tool, so it can hypnotize its prey before eating them.”
“Eating… hypnotize… wait what?!”
“And these tanks have the first successful crossbreeds of Europan and Ganymede swimweeds! Oh, they look hungry - sorry guys, I'll be back soon with your fish.”
“Swimweeds?! Fish!!”
“But through here is the most amazing, oh, sorry -”
“What was that! Why did you just duck?!”
“Sorry that one gets a bit grabby if I forget to rub it down.”
“... WHAT!”
“But through here -”
Sura entered a small, very special room. The outer edge was floored in wood, the inner edge cut to the shapes of the rocks that edged the pond filling most of the room. A few pots of blue, fleshy leaved plants were nestled between the rocks, the pond water lit from beneath with glowweeds whose light shifted in places from cyan to magenta, the colors mixing as they rippled through the water.
“Preetty!” Desyre exclaimed as Sura slowly panned her wrist over the sight, circling towards the center of the pond, where a central rock held a single, very special plant. It looked like a kind of sea anemone, but with its body a lush shade of waxy blue and its domed top frilled with rings of pink tendrils waving in the air, as if dancing in the sunlight.
“What the fuck is that?” Desyre flatly exclaimed.
“Isn’t it pretty!”
“Does ‘pretty’ mean something else to Xenobotanists?”
“Oh come on, it’s fascinating! It’s an aquatic plant from Ganimede that seems fine living above water, as long as the air is wet enough. It gets all the energy it needs from the sun, yet still seems to enjoy straining protein from liquids.”
“When you say ‘enjoy’-”
“Here, I’ll show you. Give me a sec, I need to use both hands.”
Sura crossed to a chrome bar fridge in the corner of the room, opening it to a wall of identical milk cartons. She took the open one, using one of the glass beakers waiting on top of the fridge to measure out a cup, taking it and another empty beaker with her.
The plant’s tendrils waved faster as she approached. Sura was glad she hadn't tried on the Professor’s stilettos too as she made her way barefoot from one wet stone another, arriving at the central stone with just enough room to stand with the tendrils excitedly gyrating before her waist.
“Is it… meant to do that?” Desyre asked from the watching holoscreen.
“It’s just pleased to see me.”
“See you?”
“Yeah I still haven’t figured that one out yet, but shutup and watch.”
She raised the full cup. The movement of the tendrils slowed to a stop. They began to move apart, the outer ones curling away first, then the next row and the next, row after row of tendrils curling away from the center of their mass to reveal a small, pink opening. It was maybe an inch round, looking distinctly fleshy, smooth pink skin rising and falling away from it like the ridges of a kind of organic valve. And it was moving too, as the cup approached the opening seemed to reach up, stretching wider, revealing a pink tunnel leading in, its surface criss-crossed with ridges and spiraling bumps, open in anticipation.
Sura poured, the milk flowing from the cup into the opening, which pulsed, then began to rhythmically contract around the stream, making a gulping sound.
Sura could see Desyre's face on the watching holoscreen, her roommate wearing a distinctly horrified expression. “What… the… fuck?!”
“Isn't it amazing - it’s drinking it! It’s the protein, it can’t get enough of it - it doesn't seem to need it to survive but it loves it anyway!”
The spread tendrils were pulsing rhythmically, flapping in waves against the quivering body, the waves flowing out from the gulping opening even as the stream trickled to nothing and stopped, the opening still trying to gulp on the air as if not wanting to believe it’s meal was finished.
“Oh and here’s where it gets really weird!”
“Really weird?!”
Sura wasn't listening as she watched with fascinated anticipation. One of the tendrils began to rise out of the rest, curling up and reaching towards her. She hadn't believed it the first time it had happened, still didn't really as she moved the empty beaker up to meet the tendril, which curled inside, its round end lightening until a trickle of white flowed out of it. There was barely enough to fill the bottom of the beaker, but still enough to lift proudly up to the holoscreen.
“See!” Sura beamed.
“... What the actual fuck!”
Sura pressed a control on the holoscreen, flipping Desyre's image back to her own beaming face, “I know right, isn't it weird!”
“Yes! Very!”
“I have no idea why it does this, but a few days ago it started… giving back some of the milk. And it is still milk, I've tested it, mostly milk, a few extra enzymes and fructose but nothing remotely harmful. It’s like it’s, trying to make sure I get enough to drink too? Like it thinks it needs to nurse me or something, I don’t know.”
“I think I prefer the walking trees. Are you sure you're safe up there alone with all these plants trying to feed you mysterious liquids?”
“It's only one plant, and it's only milk.”
“Mostly milk.”
"Will you chill out?”
Desyre's expression was a challenge. “Drink it then.”
“What?”
“Well, if it's only harmless milk…” she grinned, her smirk suddenly very reminiscent of the time she'd dared Sura to eat the burger patty they'd found down the back of the vegetable crisper in the apartment.
“I’m not going to -”
“Drink it, drink it, drink it -”
“Now you’re just being -”
“Drink it, drink it -”
“FINE!”
Sura upended the beaker. The effect wasn't exactly as dramatic as she’d hoped, the viscous liquid taking a moment to reach her tongue. When it did an explosion of sweetness hit her, not sickly but rich, the small amount of liquid filling her mouth and gulped down far too quick. She breathed out heavily. And remembered herself. Sura looked down defiantly, hold the empty beaker next to her proudly smiling face.
“There!” she challenged, her hair defiantly pink.
Desyre was staring at her open mouthed. Then she shuddered, “Oh I can’t believe you just did that.”
“What, didn't think I would?”
“No - no I didn't! I’m meant to be the stupid impulsive one! You’re meant to be the smart research fellow who DOESN'T go round chugging mysterious liquids from beakers!”
“It was just milk.”
“MOSTLY milk!”
“Well maybe you shouldn't have -” her face dropped. She looked down.
“Sue?” Desyre asked after a few seconds, “Why is your hair white?”
“I, uh, I've got to go!”
“What! Oh hell no, I’m coming over there right -”
“NO!” Sura said it much louder than she intended, “No, I’m fine,” she smiled, “just - I've got lots of work left to do, plants to feed and water and tend and de-egg. Lots to do.”
Desyre’s eyebrow was raised, “You’re a terrible liar you know. And what’s de-egg... no I don’t want to know. Just tell me you’re okay, that your stomach hasn't melted or a chestburster hasn't exploded through your tits or anything. Okay?!”
Sura smiled, “I’m fine, really. Just busy.”
“Bullshit - but I trust you. And I trust that you’ll CALL ME if you’re not okay! Rather than just try and deal with hungry alien tittybursters yourself.”
“I’m fine!” she sighed, looking down from the image of Desyre pretending her nipples were now hungry aliens. “Goodbye, Desy!”
“What, I’m not Desy, I’m the Ravenous Breastblatter Beast of -” Sura never heard the end of the sentence as the holoscreen winked off at her press of the control. She lowered her hand, leaving her staring down at the sudden prominent bulge in the black silk of her dress.
Why - the fuck - was she so hard?
No comments:
Post a Comment