Love of Botany
(continued)
Whoa. This potentially dangerous thing that probably wanted to eat just
me, only me, was lecturing me on ethics?
"But the fal-fal can make itself whole again, and do you not think
that it is necessary for lower species to be sacrificed for the benefit
of higher ones?"
"No," he said. "Not necessary. Whole body can change from
mind alone. No need for use outside manipulations."
I was breathless. And so fascinated that I moved closer to him.
"No higher being that I know can regenerate its limbs," I said.
"See this now," he replied. He held out his arm, and I saw
it grow about two meters, a long thin appendage with a perfect human hand
on the end. It waved in the air, then shot back down to normal size.
My heart threatened to leap out of my mouth.
"Sorry, I have feared you," he said. "Very, very sorry.
I am loving you. I never wish to fear you. See? I am handsome again, not
to worry."
"I... I think I need to go home," I said, meaning my pod but
probably more. If a cargosledge appeared that moment, I would doubtlessly
have hopped right on it. However, one was not due for three weeks.
He looked infinitely sad. "I will be here always. I am always here.
I will be loving you tomorrow as much as today. No. I will be loving you
even more."
I knocked over my equipment, making a hasty exit out of the woods.
Back in my pod, I cracked open my measly ration of chocolate. Four lousy
bars expected to last till the next cargosledge. And dark chocolate too,
not creamy milk as I preferred. Cursing everyone in the universe, I crammed
a chunk into my mouth. Tears trickled down my face as I chewed.
I could not, could not, could not, share this eerie episode with anyone.
They would pack me up and send me home. At least Bonaski would; I could
see she meant business. As for the others, it wasn't as if they cared
about me but rather that they didn't want anything to interfere with their
programs. An off-the-deep-end colleague would be, at the very least, an
annoyance and at the worst, a blot on their own positions.
I crammed another chunk into my mouth and sucked fiercely. It was possible
that I was, indeed, cracking up, in which case, I ought to make a graceful
exit. On the other hand, considering that we were on an entirely alien
world, it was conceivable that I was quite sane and that there was a sentient
being in the woods, abeing who refused to see anyone but me. So no one
would believe he existed, even if I was quite sane!
Therefore, if I wanted to stay on Edenal, finish my work and not disappoint
the people who were backing me (one of whom might hire someone to dress
me in cement and dump me in the sea if I did). My only choice was to endure
the thing in the woods and keep my trap shut.
I stood up, brushed my pants down and hiked back out there into that
blasted jungle.
"I am missing you terrible, terrible," said Phylba, still in
his usual spot.
I decided to check that spot out and moved a little closer. He stood
about two to three meters from a tree, a kind of palm affair with a long,
smooth, cream colored trunk. A few steps closer still and I could see
the top of the tree. From there sprouted maybe two dozen stems, each six
to eight centimeters thick, that widened into fern-like leaves and draped
to the ground in the manner of a weeping willow. I moved closer. I could
now see that one of those stems seemed to disappear behind the head of
the "man."
Pulling together whatever courage I possessed, I spoke firmly. "Phylba,
I want you to turn around."
And he did. Attached to his back was the disappearing stem. My suspicions
had been on the mark: the "man" was a plant. As to whether he
wanted to eat me or loved me as he claimed, I did not know.
Edenal, the month of March
This was impossible, impossible! I simply could not be feeling these
things. Surely this was akin to a woman falling in love with her dog or
pet guinea pig! Actually, more like her philodendron. I was seriously
beginning to wonder if I was indeed experiencing a breakdown.
By now, I'd decided this "Phylba" was not carnivorous. It remained
to be seen if he was dangerous.
The trouble was, he was so damned persistent and so very very romantic.
"I watch you as you work, Valerie, and I get such feeling, such
deep feeling." He did not stop there. "All over myself, Valerie.
In my head, in my chest, in my middle and lower still. Lower still feels
very good."
How could a plant feel human emotion? Let alone physical human sensations?
What did Phylba really consist of?
I asked him, "How can you be? Why do you resemble a swashbuckler
from Earth's Seventeenth Century Europe? How do you resemble a human at
all?"
I blushed as he explained.
