Star Trek: Erin

Part 27: Biflora and Fauna

     Terraforming is impressive, but something else was happening on Biflora III. As our eye-particles got back online, we let out little involuntary gasps. The view from space is always spectacular, but after so long up there, you treasure being able to step onto the surface of worlds and see the glory of detail.

     My first thought was my eyes weren't working properly. My second was that everything was stab-your-eyes green. And my third was, Holy hell there are plants everywhere.

     Before us loomed a massive facility that was the characteristic grey of every research lab ever. Its crowning glory was a colossal satellite dish pointed directly up like a malfunctioning umbrella.

     My initial thought that everything was gotta-be-fake green turned out to be wrong. While the dominant species of vine-moss-grass-whatever was an aggressive shade of emerald, there were more muted shades struggling to get some of that sweet sunlight. Explosions of colour close to the ground were pouch-like bulbs that looked like the food cubes on the Enterprise. Closer to the facility were twisted, white-barked tree-mimics with comically large ink-coloured flowers. Looking down, there was a definite line in the greenery five paces from our beam-in. On our side, the foliage sent our tentative tendrils to explore the rocky surface—and was doing an alarmingly good job—while on the other side was the junglesque proliferation. Thanks, terraforming.

     From a normal person's perspective, it had a lush, dreamlike quality.

     From my perspective as a Starfleet officer, it was a nightmare. What happened here? Surely this wasn't their plan. It had none of the order you'd expect from a research lab. Even if they were studying weird-ass plants, they would at least have them contained and not trying to take over their facility. I'd consumed enough media to realize that this looked very bad for any scientists being alive. Maybe the plants were homicidal.

     Tetra frowned at a bright red flower half-squashed by her boot. "Is it safe to touch the foliage, medic?"

     Gabriel was squatting with her tricorder. "Most of it is fine. Try to stay away from plants with flowers or bulbs. And do not get caught on any thorns."

     "You heard her. Formation, don't touch things unless necessary." We assembled and moved towards the research facility. I half-expected the grass to try swallowing us the second we stepped onto it, but it was conveniently springy. I didn't like that either.

     The briefing information I'd read on the way to the transporter room has said Biflora III has elevenish hours of sunlight, and we were nearing its seventh hour. Harmless clouds were drifting by, although they avoided the active terraforming region. Just a bit of windy deterrent, since the power loss from doing that outweighed the recalibration from adding moisture to the region only for it to leave in a few minutes.

     I dropped back to walk with Tetra, letting O'Sullivan take point. "The briefing didn't say what the Biflora labs were studying," I said. "Top secret?"

     "I expect so." Her voice dropped. "In my dimension, the Biflora labs were used for bioweapon development. Perhaps that happened here too."

     I gave a nervous laugh and glanced over my shoulder. "I hope you don't say things like that to the people who don't know."

     "Of course not. Only to those who understand. Speaking of which." Tetra scanned the area before returning her gaze to me. "Perhaps my curiosity's morbidity is befitting my home dimension, but it was a strangely taboo topic back home. Same reason you never asked how a superior officer was killed. Not reverence, more rivalry. But, being a redshirt, do you know what happens if you move while beaming?"