Our Roots, our Destiny (Chapter 10)

"So they're not actually plants?" Genefrod said.

"They do photosynthesize, they are largely sessile, but other than that? They have nothing in common with native Kerbin plants," Hoag said.

"And what about that mimicry thing? It looked like oak trees when they attacked me, but your footage shows some kind of giant tuber," Genefrod said.

"We don't know how it works at all. The one sample we collected, before the Captain told us to get rid of it, seemed totally helpless, transforming into all sorts of plants, none of which we recognized," Stwig said.

"Is it intelligent?" Genefrod said.

"Must be. Dunno what its motives are or if it is sentient, but unless it can read our minds, it's got to know a lot to know what an Echoan Mega-Tuber is," Hoag said.

"Hmm. Gilbe told me that Kerbin and Echo were exchanging information for a while before contact ended. Would Kerbals on Kerbin know what a Mega-Tuber is?" Genefrod asked.

"I suppose someone ought to. The initial probes which predated our arrival might even have imaged them, I don't remember," Kegrel said.

Through the intercom, the pilot spoke: "This is Lt. Jenuki. We're coming up on the KSC Runway. This will get a little rough."

"Everyone, take a seat and buckle up," Kegrel said.

"Aye commander," Stwig and Hoag said. Genefrod nodded.

The Entreprize's atomic motors shut off and pivoted. The runway was cracked and overgrown, but a section about a quarter of the runway's length had been cleared and marked with an X by the crew during the previous expedition. Entreprize glided over half of the runway until it nearly reached the clear spot, when it pulled up. Genefrod was wrenched sideways in his chair, while Stwig, Hoag, and Kegrel fought the jerk. The nuclear jets ramped up and slowed the craft down, and hot air blasted onto the ancient pavement, tearing small cracked pieces away and sending them flying. The landing gear touched the ground with a THUD. The jets turned off and Entreprize rumbled along the rough asphalt to a stop.

"Touchdown; you may now leave your seat." Jenuki announced.

"We'll need to prepare for EVA. I'm going to take Hoag and Genefrod back to the Romeo & Delta building. Hibne, you and Stwig prepare to analyze some samples"

"But commander, the captain said--" Stwig said.

"Ensign Stwig I am aware of our orders. And I expect you to follow mine," Kegrel said.

"Yes, commander," Stwig said.

Hoag and Genefrod left the lab to find the airlock, but Hibne grabbed Kegrel's shoulder gently, "Keg, are you sure about this?"

"It's Captain Kerrigh's job to play it safe. It's my job to figure out what's really going on down here, Hib."

"Yes sir," Hibne said, and whispered under his breath, "that seems needlessly reductive."

Later, the away team was making their way into the Research & Development ruins. It was dark, lit only by muted orange sunlight scattered through cracks in the ceiling and the orange-white flashlights of the away team. The vines would have been creepy enough even if they weren't startlingly cunning alien monsters. Genefrod kept flicking his flashlight around, and he kept feeling as though there was some other Kerbal in the room with him.

"I've never found ruins which were so well preserved," Genefrod said.

"Oh?" Kegrel said, stepping over an alien vine.

"The ruins of the Manifest Destiny had already been picked dry by the time I got to see them, and all the ruins on Lowel were millions of years old," Genefrod said.

"You talk too much," Hoag said.

"[It's the choice between talking or crying,]" Genefrod muttered in his native tongue.

"What?" Hoag said.

"Look at this," Genefrod said. His instruments read weak radio signals coming from a panel. Genefrod wiped the dust off to reveal a dim, cracked, glowing touchscreen.

"It's a working computer! After all this time? How is it kept on?" Hoag said.

Genefrod felt a knot in his stomach. He tilted his flashlight down to find vines running into it.

"Oh! God." Hoag said.

Kegrel looked at it sternly. "Cut the vines out of it."

"But sir, it might--"

"I want that computer. It's the first thing with working electronics we've seen," Kegrel said.

"Alright. I'll get a vial of hydrazine..." Hoag said.

"Hold on. I have an idea," Genefrod said, "do you have any strong painkillers in your first aid kit, Hoag?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes. I have some morphine right here," Hoag said, fishing out a spray-injector.

'Morphine? How archaic,' Genefrod thought. "We'll inject the morphine so it won't hurt the vines enough to elicit a response," he said.

"Commander?" Hoag said.

"Do it," Kegrel said.

Hoag pressed the morphine injector into the vines. At first the vines lurched, but they soon fell down.

"I don't believe it, it actually worked." Hoag said, "But that means it has to have the same basic biochemistry as Kerbals. Even Echo's animals wouldn't respond to morphine like that."

"I had a hunch, when I realized there was no evidence of corpses here, and no dead trees or shrubs anywhere."

"What do you mean?" Kegrel said.

"It...," Genefrod started to gag, "ate it all."

"...and it wouldn't be able to do that if it didn't share a biochemistry," Hoag said.

Hoag and Kegrel frowned. Hoag took out a scalpel and started to sever the vines, which did not resist. Genefrod took a screwdriver and started to pry the computer panel off of the wall. With the vines disconnected, so too was power to the device, and it cut off. Genefrod laid the computer panel down on a desk and pulled the vines and tendrils out of the power and data connectors. Hoag enclosed the sample in a bottle and locked the bottle cap tight.

"Now we have a sample for the guys in Entreprize," Hoag said.

"I also want to get some of that black crystaline stuff," Kegrel said, "I'm going down the hall to get some. You two get the computer and the plant sample back to Entreprize.

Genefrod grabbed the computer and thrusted it into Hoag's arms.

"What?" Hoag said.

"You heard him. Get the computer and sample back to Entreprize," Genefrod said.

"He said BOTH of us," Hoag said.

"I want to look at something else," Genefrod said.

"Didn't I tell you? COMMANDER KEGREL GIVES THE ORDERS--"

"'On this ship,'" Genefrod said, "but we're not ON your ship."

Genefrod took some more pictures of the lab and walked out into the hallway, making his way up the staircase, where he found some more vines, gaining density as they spiralled downstairs.

["Something's down there,"] Genefrod said, snapping another photo.