TRIAL AND ERROR | short stories + snippets

Best Friend Space Adventure: The Garden, pt 2

For a split second, Nicolás thinks Zilša has caught onto his unfortunate bodily reaction to being intimidated by an extraterrestrial being who looks strong enough to kill him with her bare hands. But then realises she's referring to whatever crimes they have committed since arriving.

"We're not sure what we've done wrong..."

"Playing stupid will get you nowhere," Zilša says.

Caleb snorts. "He's not playing."

Either Zilša doesn't understand the joke or she simply deems it unamusing because she squares her shoulders. Aff still has the weapon but Zilša doesn't need it to absolutely fucking terrifying.

"You were discovered in protected land. Only authorised personnel are allowed within this forest."

"We didn't know that, did we? We got here by accident."

"Swear down," Nicolás tacks on, nodding rapidly. "There was this portal. One moment, we're in Manchester. Next, we're here."

"Manchester?" Aff asks. "Where's that?"

"England," Caleb says, then with a glance at the pink dual-mooned sky, adds, "Erm... planet Earth."

They jolt with joy, making a gesture that could best be described as jazz hands with both sets. "Planet Earth! You're human!"

Caleb might not understand the vocabulary but he would bet all of Nicolás's belongings that Zilša swears. The expression on her face suggests that this is the worst thing that could ever have happened.

"Earth!" Aff is still unable to stay still. "Earth is the home of the taraxacum. The taraxacum is a revered flower of the planet Earth, with it being featured in countless artworks. In the country of Japan, there are even societies that gather to celebrate the flower. The taraxacum is appreciated for its medical properties and its ability to thrive in the harshest of environments."

Turns out, infodumping is an intergalactic language.

"Isn't that right?" Aff asked, beaming at them.

"Um... well, mostly we call them dandelions," Nicolás says. "And people consider them weeds these days..."

Aff's arms flop to their sides.

"But yes," Nicolás rushes on. "Dandelions are beneficial for most gardens. They have widespread root systems, which means they break up hard-packed soil to aerate the earth and help reduce erosion. They draw nutrients to the surface so they're accessible to plants with shallow roots."

Aff bounces on their feet. "Tell me, on Earth, have either of you ever encountered an ant?"

"Every day, probably."

Aff all but leaps into the air. "Every day! Such incredible creatures. If I could one day have the privilege to witness an ant, it would be the most splendid experience."

Their eyes are disproportionately large and protrude from the sides of their head. However, the majority of the eyeballs are exposed, giving them nearly 360 vision. Aff's remain affixed to Caleb and Nicolás, though.

They look them over. "And this is Earth fashion? It's just as beautiful as the books say!"

Caleb glances at his Buffy crop-top, camo cargo shorts, and rainbow Croc. Not exactly what he would consider fashionable.

"Right," Zilša cuts in before Aff can ask more questions. "And what are you doing on Orlex then?"

"We told you, it was an accident." Handing his second crutch for Nicolás to hold, Caleb rummages around in his rock-filled pockets for the compact and holds it out. "We got here with this. But it must've broken cause we couldn't get it to work again."

Aff reaches out with their lower left arm to take it. They seem to have some sort of heightened sense receptors on their hands because they don't look down at all, moving it around their palm instead.

"Oh, a Mirror Way! Emoǩ will fix this in a—as you would say on Earth—eye blink span." They wink with both eyes and hand the compact back. "If you help us finish de-spore our section, we'll take you to campus and she'll fix it."

"Campus?" Caleb asks, looking at Zliša and the weapon she has claimed back from Aff. "You aren't soldiers?"

Aff bends over with laughter. It's a rapid clicking sound but their joy is plain. "We're gardeners. Well, studying to be, strictly speaking."

Nicolás drills his stare to the moss between his feet. This does not help his mind scramble out of the gutter. He takes a minute to collect his pride and self-respect before he can focus on Aff's instructions.

The pronged spear Zliša threatened them with turns out to be, not a weapon, but a tool created for prying barnacle-like spores off the trees. While they work, Aff explains that the spores are an invasive species carried onto the small planet of Orlex by the Belion, and decades later, they still threaten their fragile plant life.

Students from the gardening department and other volunteers come to clear the forest of the parasites once a week, while a more effective herbicide that won't harm any native species is in development.

"Is that what happened out there?" Nicolás asks. He empties a full bucket of the barnacles into a larger, sealed container on the back of a vehicle somewhere between a lorry and a golf cart. "The spores?"

Aff's vibrant demeanour dulls. Even Zilša, who has managed to remain grumpy while carrying Caleb on her shoulders after he got too tired of supporting himself on crutches, becomes obviously melancholic.

Nicolás is about to apologise when Zilša answers. "No. What happened is the Belion themselves."

Aff pokes their de-sporer into the ground and leans against the handle. They look up at the canopies of the trees above and the pink sky that peeks between them.

"Most of our planet used to be as luscious as this forest. Then the Belion came and they wanted resources. And they took them. They left our lakes dry, and forests dug up.

"We won independence when Zilša and me were just young'uns so we can't remember much of it, but nature has infinite memory. There's so much damage that repairing it seems impossible sometimes. Neither the land nor the water is habitable to the species that used to live in them. We don't have species like the ta–, um, dandelions that can grow anywhere."

Silence seals over them. It dries up the cooling dew in the air and heat needles into the forest.

"But we're not giving up," Aff says, pride pushing through the lump in their throat. "One day, all that desolation will thrive again."

Notes

1. Owt: Anything