“Would you come look at this for a moment?”
My exobotanist came over, brows raised in interest. “What did you want me to see?”
I pointed. “These aren’t growing out of anything, right? They’re not like moss?”
Her brow furrowed, and she marched up to the stone that was decorated in the beautiful display. “Hmm. How interesting.” she mumbled. “I don’t think it’s growing at all. Hmm.”
Worry wiggled in my gut. “If you see a plant that has flowers similar to this or to the ones decorating any of the shrines, would you tell me?”
“Of course.” she said absently, still closely studying the beautiful creation.
“I imagine you can’t tell how long a flower petal like that could be off of its stalk without dying?”
“Not unless I can study the plant.”
“Ok, let me know if you find one. Thank you.” I walked back to my area, shook off my feelings of foreboding, and immersed myself in learning all I could about this species, starting with their language.
Hours later I called my brother over. He had a sappy smile on his face.
“What are you grinning about?”
“I love this place. Look.” He pulled out his camera screen and an image popped up. I crowded close as he turned it toward me. At first I thought it was just huge leaves and thick jungle greenery, but then I noticed it. A tiny face peered from underneath a leaf. It was cute, like a sugar glider, only much more colorful, almost like a peacock, and it had feathers instead of fur. A peacock sugar glider. It wore a curious expression as it stared toward the camera, toward Jaron.
“How precious.” I breathed.
“Isn’t it?” Jaron looked at me and then back at the screen, still smiling. “Look at this.” He swiped and showed me another image, this one of a stunning bird. The same kind as the ones I saw frolicking in the air when we first got here, only this one was up close.
“Unless you’re right up next to it, that thing is big.” I commented.
“It is. It’s like a dinosaur bird.”
I agreed with him. He continued to show me pictures, delicate flowers, other birds—it looked like they also had a version of a parrot here—and he’d even captured the colors of those strange, nearly iridescent purple-gray trees.
“Did you do any actual studying, or just take pictures?” I asked, giving him the side eye and withholding a grin.
“I will have you know that everything I've done has been for research purposes and is of the utmost importance.” he informed me in a haughty tone.
I chuckled. “These will be wonderful to show people.”
He cast his gaze around us. “This place is like nothing I could have imagined.” His voice held a tinge of awe and I had to smile, I felt the same.
“Come here, look at this.” I showed him the images carved into stone. “These hieroglyphs are only included with some of the lettering. Aren’t they interesting?”
“They’re very detailed.” Jaron leaned close, squinting his eyes as he studied them. “Do you see the edges here?” He pointed around one of the images. “It doesn’t seem like any type of chisel was used.”
I studied the edges that he pointed out. “You’re right. There’s a roughness to it. A shakiness and start and stop that makes it unique.”
“Do you think they carved this with their claws?” he asked.
I hadn’t considered it, but from what I knew from my original research, the vorpyr, while being highly evolved and intelligent, were a tactile and warring species. They liked to get up close and personal in all they did. It would make sense that they would carve the stones of those they cared about themselves. “That’s certainly a possibility.” I agreed.
When it was finally too dark for any of us to continue and the officers were getting anxious about being out past nightfall, we all trooped back to the ship.
We discussed our findings over dinner. At one point the co-pilot walked by and I heard a muttered “nerds”. I had to contain my snort of amusement.
My mind drifted to the vorpyr and I regretted that we couldn’t study their language and culture of today. I was delighted with this project, but I hated that we were at odds with an entire species. After this I should see if I could get on a ship to visit other aliens. I’d had a couple of job offers from conglomerates who wanted an expert on culture and language to come along for their meetings and negotiations with other species, but the thought of working for one of them made me cringe. Maybe it was time to put my pride aside. It might even give me an opportunity to better help Jaron and his new lobbying endeavor. All I knew was that a change in my life was needed, and this trip just solidified that fact.
“What has you so lost in thought?” Jaron was sitting next to me and picking over his pack of food.
