Page 15 of Redondo (Mates of the Mylos #7)
CHAPTER 15
ONDO
I carefully examined the young pseudo tree. The aphids in its enclosure had been all over it and the other musa plants in the sealed unit. This was the fifth trial, and so far, it looked as if I’d cracked it. There were no signs of the bunchy top virus outwardly. I carefully took a sample and placed it within the bioscanner for analysis. Now, if only the results were as I hoped, it would show no signs of the virus. I’d even settle for the virus to be present but dead or dying.
In the six months I’d been aboard ship, I’d had one singular focus - to save the musa, or as humans more commonly called them, bananas. Not just the clones of the variety grown for supermarket bananas in most of the western hemisphere, but the lesser known cultivars popular in the Hawaiian islands and grown by homesteaders and the university. Admittedly, I’d become interested after sampling banana pancakes made by my hula instructor’s wife and sister, who told me all about the bunchy top virus. My first goal was to examine the plants that failed to develop the virus while others around them did. Then I examined their immune response, and went from there. Our advanced science was able to go in directions theirs couldn’t. Not that the credit was entirely mine - I had the advantage of all the work the human scientists had done up to this point to build upon.
Ping!
I turned my attention to the bioscanner and read its report, grinning. The plant had broken strands of the virus in its DNA, showing it had fought it off successfully. My tail swayed happily behind me as I realized what this meant - I’d successfully created viable breeding samples of each of the varieties I’d attempted immune system boosters with. Now I just needed to expand it to plantains and I’d be ready to share my research with my Chief, so it could be replicated with all the rest of the varieties around the world. Then I could look at their vulnerability to nematodes and move on from there.
I placed the ice cream banana plant back into its sealed unit, closing it and beginning the cycle that would gently simulate rain for the optimum period of time.
“Hey, Ondo, have you finished up in here yet?” Yllip asked, poking his head inside my lab.
“Just wrapping up,” I said.
“Great! I’m taking you out tonight, and I’m not accepting no for an answer.”
I cringed. After the friendliness of the waitresses at the Waffle House the day of our graduation, I’d been full of confidence that most of the humans I met would be like them, and our former classmate, who’d offered to introduce us to his parents. The stunned, almost fearful looks I received from the moment I disembarked our shuttle revealed the sad truth to me. I looked downright frightening to humans. My general appearance, even without the scars, would have been bad enough, it seemed. But add my scars and the name of my species? It turns out ‘Dragonii’ sounded a lot like ‘dragon’ to them, a mythical killing machine of an animal that breathed fire and ate people, especially if they were princesses. How did they know they were princesses? It seems they were sentient and planned heists to steal gold and jewels from kings while kidnapping their snack of choice.
I was reassured that they were imaginary, but given the visceral reaction, I was leaning more towards racial memory of something that morphed into an exaggerated legend. Not that this helped me at all.
“Don’t give me that look! People were just surprised, as they’d never seen one of your species before. If you don't hang out in public with the rest of us, they’ll never become accustomed to you or get to know the real you.”
His sentiments were valid, but it still hurt when I experienced those reactions.
“Come on,” he wheedled. “The guys are all keen to try out this new bowling alley place. Apparently, you roll heavy balls down a polished wooden surface with two ditches on either side and try to knock down wooden pins at the end of it. It’s supposed to be quite fun.” Then he played the card that he knew would get me. “They serve pizza, so we can have dinner there too.”
I’d had pizza my second night aboard, and it immediately became my favorite food.
“Pepperoni?” I asked hopefully.
“And Spam and pineapple,” he replied.
“Fine, I’ll come.”
“That’s the spirit,” he cheered.”Do this with me tonight, and this weekend we can invite them over for a game night. Ralph and Terry are wanting to start up something called ‘an old school D and D’ group. For some reason, they told me they thought you’d not be interested.”
”Ralph and Terry from hula class?” And there was that hollow feeling again. I’d thought that they’d gotten over the shock of seeing me and that we’d started a tenuous friendship. They loved talking to Yllip and had come over to watch some vids with us a few times.
“Yeah. They said they’d explain what the game was about tonight so you could make up your own mind.”
I wasn't certain what to make of that. Were they trying to be considerate of my feelings for some unknown reason only they fathomed as of yet, or were they trying to push me away so I would be excluded from their friend group? I guess only going tonight and hearing them out would answer that question.
I finished logging out of the lab’s systems, turning control over to the lab AI, Tribin.
“Goodnight, Tribin,” I called out as I hung up my lab coat.
“Enjoy your evening,” the sentient AI replied. “Excellent work today.”
“Yes. I think we’ve solved the bunchy top problem, at least in these varieties.”
I palmed the door open, ushering Yllip out ahead of me. As we exited, the lights began to dim, simulating twilight for the plants.
“I heard they are finally almost finished testing the people coming to work on the children’s vid program,” Yllip said as we walked to the elevator.
“We’ve only been here six months,” I reminded him. “The odds that one of them is our mate is astronomical.”
“The odds are the odds, no matter how long we’re here,” he argued. “A match could happen!”
I sighed. “I suppose. Just promise me you won’t get all mopey if it doesn't happen this time.”
We reached the elevator and palmed the panel to call for a compartment.
“I won’t,” he said. “Every day comes with multiple chances, after all, as every day, humans go to the Scholarship Center and take the test.”
I knew that, but how long could that sense of optimism last? Besides, I knew what would happen if I was matched to a human. They’d take one look and wish I wasn’t Dragonii and scarred. If he was, I’d ask to move out so his mate wouldn’t have to see me and be afraid of me. Not the happy ending Yllip dreamed of, or my fathers, but the reality I was finding I’d have to accept.