An Encounter between Saplings and Sanalites
This is a joint writing project between /nasa/ and /uuu/. /nasa/ will write one passage one time. Then /uuu/ will write the next passage. Passages will be separated with lines with the author's listed.
/nasa/
It is currently 6 AM at the abandoned Hooman logging camp at Forest's Edge. The camping Sanalites enjoyed falling asleep during a summer night where the sun wasn't out. Jones and Sherry are currently asleep. They took the night watch. Sherry fell asleep with her pen and paper notebook containing notes of all of the animals she spotted during the night. Branny is asleep behind Sherry acting as a pillow. Branny is plugged into the rover buggy's spare battery. Charlie is currently preparing breakfast. Charlie is unsure if he can build a fire close to Sapling territory. So he settles on using an electric kettle to boil water used to cook food cartridges. Bear is in the gunner's seat. He uses his binoculars over the camera eyes of his full metal space helmet to see deep into the woods. There's quite a bit of fog this morning. Bear can hardly spy anything beyond the birch trees. Bear does notice the massive trees on the horizon. “The trees must be as tall as a sky scrapper to be seen at this distance,” Bear mutters to himself. There is one particular tree Bear keeps his eye on. The tree is swaying left and right almost as if it is walking. Trusting his gut Bear mounts the long gun onto the buggy. Bear checks the gun to make sure its clean enough to use. Bear doesn't load the gun just yet. Bear returns to watching the tree with his binoculars.
Charlie climbs the buggy with a plastic-metal case in his hand. “Grub's ready,” says Charlie as he hands the metal cartridge to Bear. “Hope you don' mind tofu 'n' beans and toast for breakfast.” Bear grabs the cartridge. He inserts it into the slot of his suit. “Thank you Charlie,” Bear says. Charlie sees the long gun is ready. He asks, “so what'dya see out there mate?” Bear slurps his pork and beans inside the space suit. “I've noticed what looks like a walkin' tree. It could be one of our Saplin' friends. But I'm unsure.”
“Wot!? A bleedin' walkin' tree!?” Charlie says surprised. “You outta your mind?”
Bear stares at Charlie. While Charlie can't see his face Charlie understands Bear is serious. Bear says, “in the alien tundra we landed we have giant walking tortoises, woolly mammoths, and cat-sized venomous deadly spiders. If you think walking trees are impossible on this alien world then you'd be insane.” Charlie shrugs and says “I done know 'bout life and evolution shit! What I do know is 'alf a world away there's a land o' squirrel girls in heat that wanna fuck your brains out.” Bear chuckles. “And you think walkin' trees are impossible.” Bear resumes scouting the woods with his nocs. “This fog ain't doin' me any favors. I can't see shit.”
Charlie spots Matilda putting her hand on the vault door of the trailer. “No no no! Don' touch that!” Charlie warns Matilda. Matilda freaks out a bit. She then puts her hands on her hips. She speaks with a posh accent. “I wasn't doing anything.” Matilda says, “I was, uhh, checking the vault door. I'm making sure the door's still sealed. That's all.” Charlie slides off the buggy. “Sure you were.” Charlie doesn't buy Matilda's story. He puts his finger on Matilda's helmet. “Just wait you little Sheelah.” Charlie reminds Matilda. “You gotta keep your sweet tooth controll'd. You can 'ave a sammie when we get to the Saplin's. Sammies gotta stay cold and frozen. Otherwise they'd melt. And we 'ave very angry Saplin's.” Matilda folds her arms. “I-I knew that.” She says “stop treating me like a child! I'm the ambassador of this trip. I deserve more respect.” Charlie puts his hand on Matilda's shoulders. “I know you're an adult now. But I'm an ol' man. And you'll always be that lil' wallaby in my cooking class. I care for you and all the Sanalites here. You're my family wheth'r you 'ant to be or not.” Matilda sighs. She's not happy with Charlie playing the elder card. “I really wasn't going to open the freezer you know.” Charlie waves his hand. “Yeah, but I can see the temptation.” He says “I've been there. Anyway for you I made some French toast rations. Not as good as the real thing, but they should fight off that sweet tooth o' yours.” Even if it is space rations Matilda seems quite interested in French toast. “Alright.” Matilda says. “We'll see if breakfast is satisfying enough.” Charlie pats his chest, then says “don' get your hopes up. They're space rations after all.” Wheaty the white bread dog walks up to Matilda and hops onto her thighs. He whines and wags his tail. Matilda pets Wheaty and says “I'm coming. I'm coming. Silly doggie.” Wheaty heads to the picnic table at the camp.
8 AM. Sherry is awake whether she wants to be or not. Sherry sits at the picnic table with Branny reviewing her notes while she sips a hot packet of coffee inside of her suit. Normally Sherry takes her coffee with lots of cream and sugar. But after her rough night a deep black coffee is exactly what she needs. Sherry's breakfast is toasted kale, eggs, and a bite of Charlie's dried meat. Sherry flips through her notes. Matilda sits next to Sherry at the table. “So how was the night watch last night?” Sherry asks. “It was wonderful,” says Sherry. “The forest has many kinds of animals. I saw foxes, some civets... Oh and a pack of wolves got chased away by a bear.” “A bear!?” Matilda looks around the camp paranoid. Sherry giggles. “I think the bear noticed we were awake. He wasn't hungry enough to raid our camp. Bears are more likely to raid camps during the day unless they are absolutely starving.” Matilda sighs and sits back down. “I wasn't expecting how exhausting the trip would actually be,” Matilda says. Sherry writes in her notebook. “Well you're the ambassador now,” says Sherry. “You better get used to traveling because this going to be your life now.” Matilda lays down on the bench. “I know! I know!” Sherry says “I'm going to miss Sana's followers at /nasa/.” Sherry waits for the ink to dry before putting away her notebook. “Well your job is just as important,” says Sherry. “Your job is to show the rest of the world Sana. And if we're lucky we'll get native Sanalites.”
Wheaty starts barking at the woods. Jones wakes up. He immediately grabs his gun. “Defense formations Sanalites!” Sherry and Matilda roll off the picnic table. The two girls hide behind the buggy. Both Branny and Wheaty are barking. Charlie yells at the dogs. “Quiet cunts! Get back.” The dogs follow Charlie's orders. They hide in front of Matilda and Sherry. Charlie, Jones, and Bear have their guns pointed in the woods. In the distance everyone can hear very loud foot steps. Each step also shakes the ground. Charlie takes the binoculars and looks into the woods. Now that the fog has cleared Charlie spots a giant walking tree. Charlie shakes his head. “Bloody right it'za walkin' tree.” Bear loads the long gun. He uses the gun's scope and sight to identify what's on the tree. Just then the tree stops moving. This gives Bear and Charlie enough time to look around. On the ground Bear identifies eight individuals. Charlie meanwhile sees a woman in the tree's branches. Jones has his gun pointed in the woods with his finger off the trigger. Sherry and Matilda have their pistols drawn. The bread dogs are growling. Charlie puts down the binoculars and says “put down the guns, Bear. I think these are our Saplin' friends.” Bear unloads and disarms the long-gun. “Charles is right! Saplings are inbound. Put down your firearms.” Jones holsters his rifle. Sherry and Matilda puts away their guns as well. Meanwhile Charlie opens his backpack and takes out what looks like flags with bells. “I got an idea,” Charlie says. “I planned this.” Matilda asks “what are you doing idiot?” Charlie whistles at the bread dogs. The bread dogs heel to Charlie's side. “I'm gonna give Saplin's a Charlie's Bakery welcome! Its my sammies I made after all.” Charlie hooks the bell collars onto the bread dogs. Charlie unfolds the flags. The flags have a symbol of a bread dog sitting on a crescent moon. Charlie then hops on one foot. “Wish me luck!”
Before the Saplings can approach, Charlie does a silly dance by hopping from one foot to the other waving his flags with bells. The bread dogs synchronize their dance with Charlie. “Welcome! Welcome! Bread for one and all! Come and get it. First come first serve.” Charlie does this dance out in the opening. Bear waits to see what the Saplings do next.
Matre sat comfortably on Iuno's shoulder. The ent ambled along the forest perfectly quietly and nimbly despite his 15 meter stature, but upon coming to the edge of the clearing his gait slowed.
"Worry not, Iuno, I don't sense they mean harm" she said to the tree.
Even if they are all carrying "killers", she silently reminded herself.
She had sensed the forest stir when the Sanalites had come close to the /uuu/ borders days ago, but this was nothing unusual. The sky people often treaded close to Fauna's lands in search of materials to scavenge. But when the group had not retreated and seemed to be on a trajectory into the forest some of the clan had asked her, as Matre, to see to the matter.
She saw it a wonderful learning opportunity for the greener saplings to learn about the outside world.
Raising her hand, she signaled the dozen or so other saplings to step out of the tree-line and continue moving forward. They would keep a safe distance, and stay mostly hidden, skittish as they were, but they hopefully would not cause much trouble. The two Guardians overseeing this meeting on the other hand, would need more of her attention to keep this from becoming sour.
Matre made a conscious effort to keep her Forest Sense connected to two elders.
As they approached the small group of sky people, Matre realized that they had been noticed. This seemed strange to her, considering how far away they were. Sky people didn't have Forest Sense, that was someone everyone in the clan was certain of. But they did have strange devices.
"Iuno, please stand a bit straighter, let us get ready to meet our new friends."
The large being stretched itself and became even taller, taking longer strides.
Then the strangest thing happened. Was that... dancing? One of the sky people, "Sanalites" they called themselves, had begun to dance. The small creatures they kept as pets moving along with them. Iuno stopped moving as Matre stared at the spectacle. The movements were not at all familiar to her, nor to anyone in her party, but the simple act of it... was surprisingly natural. Saplings were no strangers to dancing and singing in any regard. But for these sky people, users of hard objects, closed spaces, and skin coverings... to express something so... natural... it was shocking to say the least.
In this moment of surprise and contemplation, she let her concentration slip.
The saplings had been even more intrigued by this show, but one in particular, had decided to approach the strangers.
"Pax!" she called out. The sound was more of an intent sent through her Sense than it was a sound, but regardless, it didn't make it to the sapling in time.
Through the tall grass, Pax had no issues moving toward the caravan unseen. To him, it almost seemed like the Sanalites were as surprised by the dancing as the rest of his clan was.
He only had one goal though.
The small soft creature moving in time with the strange sky being.
He jumped out of the grass and grabbed the wolf-like being, then started hearing yells.
"Bloody 'ell, it's trying to eat Wheaty!"
"Hold!"
Pax ignored them.
The fluffy thing was very good at wrestling.
It quickly knocked him off then pinned him to the ground with it paws on his shoulders. A small growl left its throat.
Pax smiled. The he licked the small animal on the nose.
The soft thing paused for a moment, taken aback.
And licked him back, slobbering all over his face. Pax started giggling.
"It's... laughing?"
/nasa/
Matilda yells at Charlie. “Charlie! What the hell are you doing you old idiot!?” Using the binoculars Lieutenant Bear watches the Saplings in the distance. There are about eleven or so identifiable people on the ground now. Some of the people under the walking tree mimic begin Charlie's dance moves. “Whatever Charlie's doing it's working,” Bear comments. Sherry sighs in relief. “That's good,” says Sherry. “I was beginning to worry if Saplings were skittish animals who'd be scared of the noise.”
Jones notices something moving in the grass. He holds his long gun, but keeps it to his side. Jones tells Bear, “We have company at ten o'clock.” Charlie bends over. He leans onto his knees and takes a breath. “Hoo! I need'a breathah.” The moment Charlie drops his guard, something springs from the bushes. Wheaty the white bread dog immediately tackles the lunging boy. Wheaty and the boy wrestle on the grass. Branny the brown bread dog barks at the boy. “Pan pan! Pan pan pan pan pan!” Jones points the gun at Wheaty and the boy. Matilda yells, “STOP!!!” Matilda climbs over the buggy. Before Jones can put his finger on the trigger Bear grabs the barrel and yells, “HOLD!!!” The boy who's wrestling with Wheaty tries to use his weight to pin the bread dog. Charlie runs close to the boy, but keeps his distance. The boy bites into Wheaty. “Bloody hell!” Charlie laughs a panic. “He's tryin' to eat Wheaty!” Wheaty, who felt nothing by the bite, rolls over with the boy on top of him. Using his weight Wheaty pins the boy to the growl. Wheaty is not happy with the bite. He growls at the boy, baring his teeth. The boy is not frightened by the bread dog's teeth. The boy gives a playful lick to Wheaty's nose. Suddenly Wheaty stops growling. Wheaty licks his own nose in surprise. Then the boy smiles at Wheaty. Wheaty wags his tail and begins licking the boy's face. The boy is laughing as Wheaty tickles his tongue. “Is it... Laughing!?” Sherry yells. Charlie laughs once again. “That's my ol' Wheaty. You lit'uhl scoundrel. Come on. Get off of 'im before ya break somethin'.”
Charlie whistles at Wheaty. Wheaty steps off of the boy. The boy turns to his side then sits up. Matilda approaches the boy. She lifts her sun visor so the boy can get a clear look at her face. The boy rubs the slobber off of his face. Matilda holds out her hand. She examines the strange boy. The boy seems to have his left eye covered with long brown hair. There is what appears to be a small tree branch sticking out from the left. The boy's has no shoes. He seems to be wearing a grass-woven toga with a linen brown sash that only covers half of his chest. The boy is a bit scrawny but he's healthy enough to have some muscle. The boy with his uncovered brown eye looks into Matilda's face. Matilda's mouth is barely covered by a thick gorget. The boy can see Matilda's tanned skin shine through the helmet. Matilda looks at the boy with her chocolate eyes and gives him a warm smile. The boy holds out his hand for a moment. The other Sanalites watch him intensely. The boy's open palm clinches into a fist. He withdraws his hand quickly. The boy swings his hips, flips onto his feet, and makes a break for the woods. Matilda drops her hand, then sighs. She saw the boy's humanity just for a moment. It looked like the boy wanted to hold her hand. “Sir, should we go after him?” Jones asks. Matilda clinches her fist then swings around. “No!” She says. “The Saplings come to us first.” Lieutenant Bear thinks for a moment. “Good call.” He says “if we pursue the boy then they'll think we're after him for revenge.” Branny walks up to Wheaty and whines. Wheaty has a small bite on the top of his loaf. “Its not too bad,” says Charlie who's examining the bite. “Seems like the boy's got his first taste of bread dog. Hope he don't want more.”
The Sanalites regroup at the buggy. Lieutenant Bear still mains the gunner's seat as the observer. Matilda and Sherry are in front of the buggy now. Matilda tells Sherry about the boy and what he looked like. Sherry is quite fascinated by the details. Sherry says “so he has a tree branch growing inside him? Its quite a discovery. I never seen a human have a voluntary symbiotic plant living inside of them. When we meet the Saplings I would love to ask them about that.” Bear meanwhile watches the boy run back to the group of Saplings. He orders the Sanalites to stand-by and waits for the Saplings' next move.
/uuu/
Pax popped up out of the tall grass to Matre's left, matching the pace of the still moving Iuno. He cast his eyes downward.
"I'm sorry Matre, their small pets were just so cute and I-" he started.
"That's enough, Pax" Matre said sternly. "You are full aware of the wrongness of your actions. I will not berate them into you any further. I simply ask that you consider the consequences and how to best amend them, should the need arise."
Pax's shoulder's drooped even further down. "Yes Matre..." he replied softly.
"Well then" Matre said, her voice softening, and a smile appearing on her face, "out with it. How was cute was the small creature?"
Pax's eyes lit up as he stood straighter and looked up at Matre.
"It was amazing! And it smelled so funny!"
He continued his story, Matre listening warmly and asking general questions every now and then. She knew Pax really loved animals.
As they spoke, they closed the distance to the awaiting party rather quickly. Pax grew steadily more quiet as they approached. Once Matre rested her other hand on Iuno signaling him to stop, they were only 20 meters from the group of sky people.
Pax silently slipped back into the grass.
Matre took a slow moment to take in the sight before her. Five people, two of which she couldn't see their face, two small panting creatures, similar to the wolf cubs that often played in the deeper forests, and some large, shiny, hard looking things, that she assumed had been making the rumbling noises that alerted the forest dwellers to the arrival of this party long before they had crossed into /uuu/.
"Greetings" she said towards the group in general, trying to pronounce the Hooman language as best as she could remember their southern neighbors doing. "And welcome to our forests."
/nasa/
Everyone looks at Matilda. Lieutenant Bear and Jones have their guns drawn but they are pointed down with their fingers off the trigger. Matilda is nervous. She exhales a sigh that fogs her helmet. Charlie gently pats Matilda's arm. "Well," he says. "Go on. They don't mean any harm." Sherry holds onto her tablet computer. She grips it close to her chest. Sherry steps forward and says "I'll go with you." Matilda nods. Branny paws at Matilda's leg. She wags her tail and pants. "Branny is going with you too," says Sherry. Matilda pets Branny. Branny's comfort has made Matilda much more confident.
Matilda, Branny, and Sherry approach the Sapling troop. While Matilda cannot see its face she watches the giant tree towering over the Saplings. The tree twists as if its watching them. Meeting halfway Matilda clears her throat. Matilda looks at Sherry and says "I think they speak Hooman." Sherry says "it sounds like Hooman to me. Want to try it?" Matilda nods. She's practiced speaking Hooman for months. Now she hopes her practice pays off.
Matilda speaks every Hooman word as clear and precise as she can.
"Hello Saplings. Sanalites come in peace. We mean you no harm. Sanalites come with an offering."
/uuu/
Well at the very least communication would be simple enough, thought Matre. These sky people spoke the hooman language well.
So they called themselves "Sanalites". Curious. This was a name known to the parthenon of the forest.
"An offering..." she spoke out in Hooman. "I imagine this was prompted by that... unsavory... event with a 'Sanalite' several suns ago?"
The Sanalite who had stepped forward to speak seemed to tense at the reference.
"No grand offense was taken by much of the forest, I assure you. Pray tell, what-"
Suddenly, both Matre's and Iuno's heads snapped to left looking at one of the Guardians.
Both Lieutenants immediately turned their attention in the direction, grips tight on their guns.
Matilda and the rest of the civilians were slight slower to react, but also turned to look.
"Bear and Jones are gonna be on edge the rest of the day huh? This is gonna do wonders for their mood" Matilda thought.
"By Sana's feet, I swear to her name, I'm gonna have gray hairs by the end of the day" thought Bear.
Turning her attention back to the Sanalites, Matre spoke.
"Apologies, guests. It seems we have some company" she told them in a warm tone. "I hope you do not mind, but while Iuno" she patted the creature she rode for emphasis, "and his kin came with me for... emergencies... there are some others that came with along for a more... educational... purpose."
Matilda noted that whomever this person was, they were taking great care to pause and choose their words carefully. Just as she was about to ask what she meant, even if part of her more natural instinct was telling her to pay attention to the two other huge lumbering moving trees, when she noticed movement in the taller grass surrounding the group.
Slowly, as if ready to bolt at any moment, several human figures stepped out from the brush.
"One of these, you have, for better or worse, already met. Though... excitable... I assure you with the will of the forest they harbor no ill will toward you. Pray excuse their... youthful proclivities..." Matre continued. "Pax, please apologies to our guests for your actions."
A skinny boy, which to Matilda's eyes looked to be around 16, reluctantly broke away from the group of his fellows.
A soft rustling sound came from the boys mouth as his eyes refused to look in the Sanalite's direction.
"They speak Hooman, Pax." Matre instructed the boy, a slight tone of sternness in her voice.
"I'm sorry..." the boy said. His words were clearly intoned but with an accent. Something like a mix of water sliding over pebbles in a brook, and a small pup trying to howl or bark for the first time.
/nasa/
Jones has an exceptionally tight grip on his rifle. Jones quakes in his boots when he sees the two massive trees towering over him. Lieutenant Bear decides to grab Jones's gun barrel again. He whispers to Jones “keep your finger off of the trigger. But keep the safety off. We'll see where this goes.” Charlie is hiding behind the buggy. But when he heard the boy's apology Charlie sticks his head out. “Well, no 'arm done I 'spose,” says Charlie. Sherry claps her hand and whistles. Wheaty and Branny heels to her side. “Why don't you two go see the boy again.” Wheaty barks a “pan”. Wheaty and Branny run off together to meet the saplings. All of the Saplings except Pax stands back. Wheaty walks up to Pax, wags his tail, then paws at Pax's thighs. Wheaty stares at Pax with dark puppy dog eyes. Pax bends over and pets Wheaty like a dog. Wheaty gives Pax an excited “pan pan”. Matilda clears her throat. Speaking Hooman she says “apology accepted.” The other saplings quickly surround the bread dogs. Branny greets herself to each of the Saplings. Each Sapling takes turns in petting the over-eager bread dogs.
Matilda sighs in relief. Once the Saplings are done petting the bread dogs, the bread dogs heel to Sherry's side. Matilda speaks to the Saplings in Hooman. “Yes, the offering we have brought is an apology.” Matilda takes out her tablet computer. She pulls up a PDF file and reads it out loud. “The elected government of /nasa/ apologizes for any offense caused by the previously negotiating Sanalites. As requested by the Forest of yoooouuuuuu?” Matilda has a hard time pronouncing the name of the forest. “uuuweee.... oooouuuuhh? Apologies for my pronunciation. The elected government of /nasa/ acknowledges that any political matters and negotiations will be discussed between an official representative. Which is your's truly.” Matilda puts down her tablet. “My name is Matilda Miran. I will be your official diplomat between between /nasa/ and /uuu/.” Sherry applauds Matilda for finally nailing the pronunciation properly.
“I see,” says Matre. “So you will be the one that we speak to talk to your leader about the forest?”
“Yes,” says Matilda.
Matre isn't impressed. She asks “will leader not talk to use himself?”
“That is a bit difficult to explain.” Matilda says, “/nasa/ has many leaders. And each leader is in charge of their small section of our people.”
“So you are no different than the Hoomans of the south,” Matre says with disdain.
“Our government is similar, but /nasa/ is much smaller.” Matilda says, “there are only about five thousand of us. We have only just settled in a small place in the north very far away. We do not have as many leaders as Hoomans do. But they are very busy keeping our home organized and running.”
“I see.” Matre then says, “the neighboring forests have told us that you have cut down many trees. And the last Sanalite said he will deforest as much as he wants.” The saplings around Matre begin crying. Charlie comments, “well we're very sorry 'bout that. We need the farmland for food.” None of the Saplings understood what Charlie said. Matilda then says in Hooman “what the Sanalite said is we need to build farmland to grow food. Our farmland inside of our home got damaged when we crashed into the land. We also need wood to build tools we need to help fix our home that crashed.” Matre folds her arms. “That is understandable,” she says. “But do you have to cut down all of the forests around to repair your home?”
“We will not cut down all of the forests to repair our homes” Matilda says. “Sanalites operate under a law we call the Grand Directive. The Grand Directive forbids us from destroying the land and the ecosystem. Wherever we cut down the forest we always replant saplings so the forest can grow back. When our farms inside of the station are repaired we will heal the earth we tilled so nature can take it back. And the holes in the earth we mine will become homes for animals when we are finished mining them. /nasa/ does not strip mine and destroy the land above. We even clean our own dirty water to re-use it. We never dump polluted water into the rivers or streams.”
Matre closes her eyes. This Sanalite used a lot of big Hooman words she doesn't understand. She takes a moment to interpret them.
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