Chapter Thirty-Six #2
“Ah! Vroz engineer! Welcome!” the Orv greeted Rexna. The technician waved vigorously with bright eyes and wiggling pincers.
“Greetings!” Rexna bowed with a fist to their chest. Then, standing up straight, glanced at Aphrodite. “We’ve gotten a few strange readings a click or two to the east. I’ve got Kern, our pilot, and Jruc on guard duty, but shall we go investigate?”
“Sure! Buddy!” Aphrodite whirled to her drone who zipped to her side.
They started toward the tree line. Aphrodite felt the shift of the ground as three Orv got onto all fours and began to follow them.
She glanced over her shoulder and found the group following her merrily.
Well, having them nearby can’t hurt. Aphrodite returned her attention to the path.
Rexna’s scans came from Grooug, but the hunter was already long past the area.
They were getting strange activity from the ground but there weren’t any caverns or noticeable underground tunnels there.
As they came upon the area where the scans were lighting up, it was a field of purple…
Mushrooms. Aphrodite eyed them as Buddy scanned over the ground with his grid.
Rexna eyed the data pad with a pensive look.
The item in question had a thick, squiggly stalk with a purple mushroom top. There were darker purple spots and orange veins lining the underside of the cap. They shivered as Aphrodite stepped closer. Dropping to a knee, she poked one with her armored finger.
“Zhaba Muscaria.” The red Orv stood up on their hind legs and wobbled toward the mushroom items in question.
“Why are they moving?” Aphrodite poked around, finding the caps solid. They shivered harder the more she prodded.
“They feed the planet, Mphronatch.” Rexna crouched beside her to show the data pad. “They are like trees to oxygen, but they provide the breathing atmosphere here for the Orv and nutrients for the earth.”
“So, they’re just? Mushroom tree things?” Aphrodite cocked a brow.
“Sure?” Rexna shrugged.
Aphrodite glanced at her new Orv friends. “Do you mind if we take a few back, just to see why they’re setting off weird signals?”
“Of course! Zhaba grow all over the planet.” The yellow Orv waddled to the patch before dropping down and scooping up a bundle of them.
They ripped out of the ground with long, white roots that thrashed about for a moment before going still.
The orange Orv took one from the bundle, snapped off the roots and popped the whole mushroom in their gapping maw.
The yellow spoke again, “Edible Zhaba. Good for you.”
“I’ll, uh, take that into consideration. But not the roots though?” Aphrodite took the bundle from the yellow Orv.
“Roots fight going down, not worth the hassle.” The red nodded, the other parroting their words.
“Got it, thanks.” Aphrodite held the bouquet of mushrooms with their drooping roots and stood up. “We’re going to return to the ship. Thank you for talking with us.”
“Many good nights, Mphronatch!” The Orv waved widely before they all took up a mushroom, popped it into their mouths, and slunk off.
Aphrodite and Rexna studied the bundle in her hands.
They shared a confused but amused glance before heading back to the ship.
The more Aphrodite studied them, the more intriguing they looked.
Their roots had little hairs that sprouted off of them.
As she inspected them, their roots tried to wrap around her wrist, the little hairs sliding around her armor.
Looking for dirt to grow into. The stalks themselves were firm and bouncy at the same time, she didn’t have to worry about breaking them in her grip.
Floppy like rubber. The ship came into view and Jruc, the crab drone, scuttled down the ramp.
As they closed the distance the drone floated up in the air and bobbed alongside Buddy.
“Anything?” Kern asked as he followed them into the cargo hold.
“Just some weird fungi,” Aphrodite giggled as she wiggled it at him.
“What are you doing with it?”
“Don’t know yet.”
An hour later, after a researcher cut one open and they all surrounded the fungi, they were no closer to figuring out anything. That’s when one of the researchers said, “Etic.”
Aphrodite watched them pop the cap of the mushroom into their mouth. The rest took conservative chunks of mushrooms and popped it into their mouths. She was hesitant, watching the scientists around her chewing happily. Then Rexna offered her a cube of mushroom.
“What does ‘Etic’ mean?” Aphrodite asked, squishing the mushroom bit between her fingers.
“I believe it’s a spicy word for humans,” Rexna laughed nervously.
Text filled her screen.
The Vrozian equivalent of ‘fuck it’.
Aphrodite raised her chunk to the other scientists. “Etic!”
They all cheered the word loudly as she popped it in her mouth.
The flavor wasn’t terrible. It was earthy, could have been washed better.
But there was a strange tanginess mixed with the dirt taste that left her baffled.
She chewed it slowly, chasing the light sting of a citrus flavor on her tongue.
Her teeth fought with the spongey, almost gummy bear texture until finally, she was able to swallow it.
…That’s when she realized why the Orv were so…Orv.