[Star-B] The Dangers of Gathering Fruit (Vaylin & Andreiya)

[Aurelius0815]

Prompt 8: Insidious Insects

In the first week of July, the area around the tree is just buzzing. The call of the cicadas is loud and droning, and it’s constant. You start to hear it all over town, too. All sorts of insects seem attracted to the strange pods, and it’s not uncommon to find nearly any species curiously investigating. If you listen closely, you notice something else strange–it’s not just the bugs that you see making the familiar call of the cicada. It seems like it’s coming from inside the pods, too. Any pod that wasn’t leaking sap suddenly begins to snap open, and giant cicadas, crawl out. Their full wingspan can reach up to a foot and they’re hungry–and angry. It seems like the pods that were leaking sap were slowly rotting, but the ones that didn’t leak were being eaten from the inside out–and now that the cicadas have run out of food, they’re out for anything they can find. Though there are several notable differences between these insects and the common cicadas, their low, chirping wail makes them easy to find–as well as the fact that they spit acid. These bugs are incredibly hostile and will attack indiscriminately, powered or unpowered, human or alien, day or night. They have a protective shell that makes them easy to crush but they’re hardly the most menacing foe you’ve faced–but if they reproduce, you could be in some real trouble. Better to crush them now before they become Destiny City’s next invasive species…

Vaylin had seen the strange aura appear on her ComTech and so she went to investigate only to find a barrier around the source of the aura, a barrier she recognized, it was that strange merchant she had met last year. The merchant had posted a sign saying he wanted a certain fruit. She remembered the merchant had artifacts of Velenia, she did not like the idea of her people's relics being sold by some alien merchant. But at the same time she understood its not like the man stole them, these were items left behind so they were fair game for him to take, it wouldn't be right to try to take them back by force so instead she'd trade for whatever he wanted.

To that end she was out hunting for the fruit the sign described. She'd heard about a tree with strange fruit sprouting this year. She figured that was weird enough that it was probably what the merchant was looking for. She noticed there were alot more insects in the area for some reason, she also noticed the presence of a familiar face. "Andreiya is that you?!" She called out over the noisy buzz of the insects.

She moved closer to her fellow Velencians. "Oh did you receive a promotion again? Congratulations Commander!" She said with grin as she observed her peer's new uniform, happy to see him achieve such a prestigious rank. "Were you looking for the fruit too?" She asked pointing to the large pods that seemed to be leaking some sort of sap.

Kyuseisha no Hikari

 

[Aurelius0815]

"That's wonderful!" She exclaimed. "And I'd love to read your essay!" Reading scholarly scientific papers was a particular joy for the young Corporal, it provided all of the benefits of experimentation and observation but the work was already done for it.

"I believe so." She said examining the pods more closely. "There's an alien merchant who is looking to trade for them, he described these pods on the posting." She explained. She looked closer at the pods some were not leaking sap like the Merchant had described.

"Hey is it just me or do you hear noises coming from some of these." She observed she leaned in closer to try to hear when suddenly the pod snapped open. Vaylin quickly backed away from the tree. Cicadas that were far too large to be normal on this planet began to fly out of the pods. They seemed much more aggressive than the normal tiny variant as they insects began to fly at the pair of alien. "What the..." She exclaimed as one of the creatures spat at her. She get her arm up to protect her face as the spit hit her sleeve and began to sizzle. She quickly knocked it off onto the ground as she ignited her sword. "Be careful Andreiya! Their spit is acidic I think." She warned her fellow as she tried to fend off the insects.

Kyuseisha no Hikari

 

[Aurelius0815]

Vaylin slashed her energy blade through one of the insecets as it suddenly turned and dove straight for the ground dying on impact, the electric impulse of her weapon scrambling it's sense of direction. "I think the humans call them Cicadas but they aren't suppose to get this big or be this aggressive, I'm pretty sure!" She replied as she continued fending off the creatures.

"Could that fruit be magically imbued?" She asked as she swung her sword. "Maybe these insects have been mutated by feeding off it's energy." She proposed as she took out another monster. She doubted the fruit was native to this world if the Merchant was so interested in them.

Between her sword and especially Andreiya's blaster the numbers of the attacking creatures began to dwindle and eventually stopped completely. She holstered her sword as she slumped against a nearby tree catching her breath. "Why does this planet attract so much weirdness?" She questioned the sky rhetorically. Then she turned her gaze to her fellow member of the Vanguard. "Thank you Andreiya, that could have been bad if you weren't here." She'd probably have made it through but she'd definitely be worse for wear without his fast shooting.

Kyuseisha no Hikari

 

[Aurelius0815]

As she caught her breath she eyed the corpse of one of the monstrous insects. She wondered made the creatures so large and aggressive, was it the sap from these fruits. It made her all the more interested to read Andreiya's essay on them. She turned her gaze back to her comrade as he spoke, "I'm fine just, the acid just ruined the sleeve of my uniform." She said holding up the burned sleeve for him to see. "Nothing I can't fix." She assured.

Getting up she walked over to the fruit tree cautiously. "I don't hear anymore of that sound so I think we're safe." She carefully grabbed some of the fruit that was not leaking and deposited them into subspace so that she could take them to the merchant.

"Well if you ever want back up I'd love to collaborate with you on a research project. I'm researching the nature of energy productions in planets." She explained her own focus as she took scans of the strange tree as well as samples of the bark and leaves for later testing. "I think or at least I hope if we can understand nature of energy production for living worlds like this perhaps we could reproduce it to stabilize Velencya." She said nothing of Caedus' starseed or plans to reclaim Velenia, that was not a topic she was interested in discussing with her colleague.

Kyuseisha no Hikari

 

[Aurelius0815]

"That sounds truly fascinating, I'm curious about the energy consumption and production of flora cultivated like that. Its very worthwhile field of research, it could also help the farmers back on Velencya in the meantime." She mused.

"Absolutely, please feel free to reach out to me at anytime to work on a project. Two heads are better than one afterall." She said with a smile. Even if she refused to assist in the capture of Caedus working with the rest of the Vanguard on research projects like this would only further her goal of finding an alternative solution to their planet's crisis.

"It was good seeing you again Andreiya, stay safe." She said in parting as she headed back to the strange alien merchant to see what he had to barter for these strange and dangerous fruits.

Kyuseisha no Hikari

fin?