Forever Young

Chapter Twenty-four. An Edible Plant?

Chapter Twenty-four.

An Edible Plant?

Janik noticed a certain aloofness in Erika as they made their way back to the library the following morning. The burgeoning intimacy of the night before seemed to have evaporated in the morning sun. She was all business, their conversation limited to the work ahead. What had Leitus said to her? 

Initially they scoured the three floors of the library, Erika intent on finding books related to science, Janik looking for any book or magazine on nutrition or diets. 

Janik had studied old Myrian texts before joining the expedition, but this was proving to be of little help. All the texts and magazines were in the new Myrian script and replete with unfamiliar words probably introduced in the years since Isolation. The work was frustratingly slow.  

Erika found no texts relating to the Physical Sciences and Engineering. There were many books, containing anatomical illustrations, obviously related to medicine. Many others appeared to be religious tracts adorned with pictures of saintly looking Myrians with lily-garlanded heads. The upper floor contained stacks of what appeared to be legal documents. It looked from the evidence as if they were in an institution that prepared students for law, medicine, or the priesthood. The labs they had discovered the previous day seemed an anachronism.  

Frustrated by their lack of progress, Erika and Janik decided to take a break, and venture outside. Much of the campus remained unexplored. They left the library by the main entrance and turned left into the dark corridor that extended along the full length of the building. They needed torches. Through a large metal-studded door at the end of the corridor they entered a huge room containing reclining chairs, a scum-filled swimming pool, and hollow glass tubes that were large enough to hold a body.  

"This could be a solarium except for the blackened windows," said Janik. 

"More like a tanning salon," suggested Erika. "I've seen tubes like these in Darsis. It seems strange that the Myr would do everything to block out the sun and then resort to artificial tanning."  

"Especially in a darkened room like this. It's stifling in here, and the stink from that pool is gross. Let's go outside,Erika, and have some lunch."

 From the exit, Janik spotted a couple of large weeping willows on the northern side of the campus.  "That looks like a good spot. It will be nice to sit there in the shade."  

As they approached, Janik realized that the willows were covering the entrance to a large glass structure. It looked like a vandalised greenhouse. Nearly every pane of glass in the arched roof had been shattered, maybe by the giant plants reaching for the sun. They were strange plants consisting of a central stalk enclosed in huge spinach-like leaves. Green nodules, of varying size depending on their position, inundated the stalk. Janik was sure such plants were unknown on Darsis. 

Erika objected to the putrid smell of rotting vegetation so Janik ventured into the tangled wreck of greenery alone. After rubbing the surface of one of the leaves he held his fingers to his nose. The smell reminded him of freshly baked bread. Could it be an edible plant? He snapped off one of the fleshy nodules, and nibbled. The  taste was not unpleasant, rather like early sweet corn. Examining the stem of the plant, he discovered it was rooted in what appeared to be normal earth, covered with a layer of beige powder. The layer was about the same depth as the last joint of his index finger. Janik, thinking that this might be a special fertilizer of some kind, scooped up a  sample, and placed it in a small pouch inside his wallet for later study.  

The dense growth had obstructed Erika's view, so naturally she was extremely curious when Janik emerged. 

"Anything of interest?"